Chronicles of the Inquisition
by Cearbhail
Summary: Ellana Lavellan, just a young scout spying on the Conclave for her dalish clan. She thought it would be easy... but no. If anything it's not the assignment she thought she'd have. Now she's stuck with this thing on her hand and a hole in the sky to plug up. Oh... and she's leading her own army. Can it get any worse? Probably, more than likely. Definitely.
1. Shemlen vacation

**Cearbhail:**

 _Well, here we are. I promised that I might do this if someone asked for it. Well, here it is. The first chapter. It will get better, but I wanted the opening to be as close to the story as possible. So... have some fun, grab a plate of awful cookies and enjoy your stay._

* * *

Well… shit. I'm stuck in a small dimly lit room with only a single oil-lit lantern hovering right over top of me to provide some amount of light to this already stated… dimly lit room. The lantern is already on its final stages of life… the flame sputtering somewhere between life and death, the very flame dancing on the light breeze flowing through the cracks of the shack's door. The flame of the lantern was making me sick to my stomach, making tiny shadows of the bars to my cell dance along the walls.

If that wasn't enough, I had a massive gate hanging over my head. It rained an hour ago, and I'm sure these cells were designed for torture. Sitting me down in the middle of the room, shackled to the ground as drops of water occasionally dripped down on top of me. Just enough to keep me damp and uncomfortable. I was also cuffed in a tight pair of iron shackles. And this was only a problem because I had an itch on my ass that I couldn't scratch at the moment. And it was driving me crazy. Add in the hard stone floors, the flickering lantern, and the cold breeze creaking through the open ceiling and the doorway… and you have a one-way ticket to shemlen paradise.

Oh yeah… I forgot one little detail. It's not really significant or anything like that, but… I guess I should just throw it out there. The fucking burning green energy embedded in my left hand! Every few minutes, I fell this massive surge of pain in my left hand which starts as a light pressure but quickly escalates to full spasms and burning. Half the time, it felt like my hand was getting ready to explode! Great Mythal, I sure hope this… whatever it was goes away soon. This has elven forbidden magic written all over it. You know what… I bet it's some kind of sick cruel prank by Fen'Harel or something. The elven god of tricks and mischief. The last thing I need before heading home to my clan is to be turned into a mageling, or a plaything for Fen'Harel. I'm not sure my younger brother would like it if I was suddenly adopted as the First of our clan. Clan Lavellan.

As I thought of it, my palm started burning. I could feel the pain start right back up again. And then I heard the light crackling of magick energy sprouting from my palm, a bright sickening green light of demonic origin pouring from my once kind of innocent hand. I say kind of innocent because there were things I've done with this hand that weren't… well… so innocent.

Any attention I gave to my glowing hand was quickly taken away as the doorway slammed open. A small crew of soldiers rushed into the room; the lantern's flame dancing even wilder as they stormed into the room. Their shadows played sick stories behind me; stories of slaughter, of enslavement. I could see the future in their eyes… a future that involved my head on a pike.

The small squad of pikemen surrounded me, keeping their spears aimed at my throat. They stood there, eyeing me with malice as a pair of heavy boots slowly and methodically stomped their way through the doorway. The woman standing in front of me was a face of compassion and love. Ha! No, I'm kidding. This was a person of considerable contempt for me, and I don't really know why. I bet she was about to tell me though.

"We can do this one of two ways." She said with a thick something accent, not dalish, I know that much. She was wearing what appeared to be thick armor adorned with a single knowing eye imprinted on the front and back of her armor plates. I know not what this meant in terms of allegiances or cultural standing. It could represent their god, the Maker, for all I knew. It sent a frightful message to me though… 'I'm watching you.' And that was one message I did not feel comfortable hearing from a piece of armor. "You can either tell me what I want to know… or I can make you tell me what I want to know." She cast a final glance at me before clearing the doorway.

As the woman walked into the room, she slowed her pace down, glaring daggers at me as she slowly started to pace around me. I tried my best to keep my calm, but I could see the bloody knife hanging on her belt; the sheathed sword that seemed to be only inches away from her drawing hand. And she was looking at me in such a way that I was certain to be just another victim to shemlen brutality.

I released a deep breath as I offered a small prayer to Falon'Din, our god of death and guidance. I knew not what would happen with me, but I did know that humans, while not inherently vile, do not view elvhen lives with as much tolerance or restraint as they would with a fellow human. A small elf dying in the streets would be quickly overlooked most days; and one elf could easily be beaten to death over a small mix-up with an order at a café… and no one would bat an eye. And here I was… locked up in chains with pikemen ready to plunge their spears into my throats.

And my crime? Oh… you know… nothing serious. I'm just the sole survivor of a little accident between the Divine Justinia the Fifth… and a whole meeting of some of the most powerful people in the free world. A very important meeting that could and would determine the state of the war between the mages and the templars. A war that was slowly ravaging the world around us; killing not only mages and templars… but people caught in the crossfire, as well as nature. And since I'm the only survivor of an explosion that killed everyone at this meeting… and since I have this glowing abnormality in my left hand… guess who got blamed for the deaths of not only the most figurehead religious leader of the shemlen world but the leaders for the mages and templars. That's right… the elf girl wearing chains around her wrists, fearing a beheading from the obvious executioner standing right behind me.

I felt something lower over my shoulder. "Tell me why we shouldn't kill you right here… right now." She whispered just loud enough to make my lap wet all over again. Hey! I've been sitting here for at least two hours and I didn't exactly get the chance to use the privy before the whole world exploded around me. I was too busy at the time… doing spy stuff. "The Conclave is destroyed… Everyone who attended is dead…" She walked around to face me, her armored finger practically shoved in my face. "Except for you." She said with a slight curl of a smirk on her lips, a tiny accusatory laugh.

I looked away from the angry woman to the more perplexed one standing just right behind her. She was a thinner woman with neck-length red hair. She looked a lot nicer, but… I think I can relate more to her than I could this brute of a woman shoving her sausage in my face. I hope I could give my story to her. She might listen to me. But, as I looked up at the woman addressing me, I felt another drip of water on top of my head. Great… _that's_ still going on.

The armored woman reached down, grabbing my left hand, pulling it up. As if on cue, my hand started sparking again, giving off that creepy green glow. "Explain this!" She growled to me, squeezing my arm tighter than I could bare. She threw my arms back to the ground, forcing me to throw myself forward.

"It's a green thing." I replied.

"I get that." She replied. "How did you get it?"

I found myself shrugging. "I don't know."

She rushed into me, grabbing me by my scarf and pulling me towards her. I could feel her hot breath in my face as she growled out, "You're lying! Tell me the truth or…"

She was quickly shoved away from me by the other woman, the one that I believed was nicer. It would seem that I was right in my assessment. "We need her, Cassandra." The woman said gently with an air of authority.

The much butcher woman, Cassandra, almost growled to the lither woman. "Leliana… we don't have time for this. Everyone is dead! There is a hole in the sky! And demons are raining down on top of us."

"Exactly my point." Leliana stated as she turned to look at me. "Frightening her will not help us learn what happened." She walked over to me, bending down just enough to see me eye-to-eye. "Tell us what you remember." Such a soft understanding compelling voice. I felt like I had to tell her everything I knew.

What I remember? "I can't really remember much…"

Leliana shook her head, smiling lightly. "That's ok. Just tell us what you can." She placed her gloved hand on my check, caressing it just enough that I felt comfortable. Her sharp eyes were baring into mine, offering me the world if I only shared what I knew. And for the exchange of not dying… I think I could recount my day so far.

"Ok…" I nodded, closing my eyes as I tried to drudge up any old thing about the Conclave that I could remember.

…

[Before the Conclave went explodey]

Well to start with, my name is Ellana Lavellan. I'm a hunter from Clan Lavellan. I'm 20 years old, something of a smartass, and… I hate my family. I hate them a lot. Always doting on my younger brother who was born with the gifts of a mage. With our Keeper being old as the Forgotten Ones, we need a new one to take his place. Seeing how we haven't had anyone significantly magically inclined since our ambush a couple years ago… one that killed our First and Second… having my sluggish younger brother express anything close to magic seemed like a godsend from Mythal. It was a chance for our Keeper to share what he knew of our traditional magick before he passed away. My brother would end up being the Keeper of our ancient elven magick and lore. I sure hope they train him well, because he's a bumbling idiot.

 _Tell us about the Conclave, not your brother._ Ok, Cassandra… I will. As I have already told you, I am a hunter. I'm also… kind of a spy. I was sent to the Conclave to spy on the meeting and see if everything would turn out alright. My job was simple… get in… find out how the Conclave was going, write my report, see the Conclave through to the end, and then go home and tell my Keeper either how fucked we were… or how safe we were. The Conclave meeting meant only one thing to my clan… either the end of the war between the two maniac parties: mages and templars…. Or complete destruction of our home. I don't really know why, but that's how my Keeper felt. So, I was sent to the Conclave to report on the Conclave's outcome. If we had to flee even farther up north to escape the inevitable escalated war… I had to be in and out as quickly as possible.

 _So, you were a spy the whole time._ Yes, I just said that. But anyway, back to what I was saying. So, I was at the Conclave, doing my spy duty. You know… gathering intelligence on the people there.

Well… not really. I was hanging around the buffet table shoving those delicious sponge cakes in my face. We don't have them very often in the middle of the woods so… I thought I'd get my fill in before heading home. And… well… as for what happened next, I can't really remember. The first thing I remember was actually shoving my face with all that food, happy that I was getting the chance to do this before heading home. The next memory I have was me leaning over the privy… emptying out my stomach so I could eat more. Not like I wanted to eat though. I just... ate a bit too much the first time and needed an emergency evacuation of everything inside me.

 _You disgusting pig._ Shut up, Cassandra; I'm busy telling you about my involvement at the Conclave. Put the sword down; otherwise, how will you ever find out how the story ends? Good girl. _I swear to the Maker when this is all over, I will see your head cleaned off your shoulders._ What great motivation I have for ending this story then.

 _Cassandra… we still need her, so no head chopping today._ Thank you, Leliana. So, there I was at the Conclave, so obviously being a spy that no one would ever suspect me of being one.

"See her?" Some mage from beside me at the buffet table looked back at me before talking to her obvious templar boyfriend. "A dalish? Here? Think she's a spy?"

The boyfriend only glanced at me for a second before nodding. "Yeah… I think she is. Who invited a dalish bitch like her to the Conclave anyway?"

I finished shoving a small tort in my mouth before waving at them. "Hello." I somehow managed to push out enough of a welcome that I didn't spit all my tort on the mage's face as I walked past her. It was at that second that I just vomited a bit, some of which splashed on her as I walked past. Just enough to give her an insult for calling me out as a dalish spy. Not that I wanted to… but as I raced past them… I knew she suspected I did it on purpose.

I wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Between the mage and the templar sucking face at the buffet table, the fact that the spiked punch had run dry, and the fact that I just begun vomiting on the face of the mage at the table… I really felt like I needed to leave the room entirely. I raced out of the room, running straight for the privy. As I exited the room, I bumped into some giant of a man… easily ten feet tall, dressed in sickening robes, and carrying this… thingy.

 _Thingy? What kind of thingy?_

I don't know… the kind of thingy I don't focus on when I have vomit spewing through my fingers. I didn't stay to apologize over vomiting on the guy's robes or his orb. I just wanted the crap out of my system, and a proper privy to throw it in. So I ducked past the tall man and his little group of armored thugs. I got in the privy and… that's all I remember.

Oh wait… there was something else. But it wasn't the Conclave. It's what happened after.

 _Happened after? What do you mean?_

I wasn't at the Conclave when I came to. I was lying on jagged rocks. My body felt heavy… heavier than usual. My head was spinning, my left hand burning with some kind of timey-wimey interfering presence. As I opened my eyes, I could see that I was no longer standing at the Conclave… or anywhere that I recognized. The very air felt too thin to be real… the sky nothing but a blurred green light that stretched across as abysmal horizon. The very ground I stood on was shallow and linear… like in a board game or something; obvious borders leading to an eternal fall residing all around me. And all around me… this really thick cloud of debris… like I had somehow survived a coming apocalypse.

 _It sounds like you ventured into the Fade._ Maybe, Leliana. I had no idea where I was, or if what I was experiencing was real or not. All I knew at the time was that I had no idea where I was… or why I was there. Any memory I had before then was gone… conveniently forgotten. I didn't even recognize my own face for the few seconds I tried to reestablish my own identity. Was I a mage? Was I even an elf? Was I blonde, brunette? So many questions going through my mind as I tried to steady myself. And that wasn't the worst of it. The way my head was spinning, I almost felt like my entire identity was being rewritten, like I wasn't a standard version of myself anymore. I remember being a hunter… specializing in my use of knives. I love using knives. I would often dress up in black/green clothes, pull a mask over my face, put my dark auburn hair into a ponytail, and then go stalking in the trees with my bow and arrow, practicing my hunting arts. But even as I drew in that memory, I was scrambling to remember even the slightest of details of the past few minutes. And unfortunately… I didn't have time to reflect on my life. _Why not?_

Well, as I started to scramble up to my feet… I saw this glowing woman, standing at the top of the linear platform stretched out ahead of me. She was beckoning me with her hand, trying to get me to stand up and go to her. I started to walk to her, tried to get my tired and sluggish legs to walk across the jagged rocks that made up this clearly unstable floating pathway. And for a few steps… it was going great. I could see that this glowing woman was standing next to this green crack in the air. I'm not sure what it was, but it seemed like it was a hole in time and space. I'm not mage so… yeah… I wouldn't know for certain. I just knew that I needed to get up there. The glowing woman would at least be able to tell me what was going on if nothing else. And since I didn't want to just stand there and embrace eternity… I decided to head on up to her and see if she could at least tell me where we were… or what I was.

And that's when I heard it… the clicking. The insufferable clicking. Mandibles clicking, the scuttling of loose legs clambering over loose rock; and as I turned my head around, I saw them. Hundreds and hundreds of scarab beetles, following behind them taller bipedal beetles with four glowing eyes and triangular heads. My one true fear… Collectors. _Collectors?_ Yes… Collectors. From my nightmares. They represented a time when all certainty was stripped away… all possible happy endings erased. Sure, they made a very real threat… but the real threat they represented was a legacy of a perfect ending, the proper pacing dedicated to a glorious success story of overcoming the odds to win… only to be shattered years later with a terribly paced ending, building this massive army for one epic last stand… only to have that ending rushed and disappointing to anyone that played. _What are you babbling about?_ Nothing… just my nightmares… the Collectors. And they were all flying up right behind me, trying to chase me up the jagged pathway up to the glowing lady. If I just reached her in time, I knew I would be safe. My story would not be rushed and ruined by stupidly written plot points. No! My story would be meticulously written out with no surprise plot twist involving a loved one turning their back on me, planning to destroy the world for one selfish desire. Actually… it sounds like a great ending, if not only so it would be a great sequel bait. But anyway… I started climbing as fast as I could; the beetles right behind me, closing in with every breath I took.

"Elvhen…" This one loud intruding voice spoke to me… like it was inside my head. I looked over my shoulder to see the swarms of scarabs flying right behind me, just far enough away that they could be threatening without actually harming me. "You have changed nothing. Your stupidity has brought upon you the attention of those infinitely your greater."

"My gods?" I screamed over my shoulder back at the beetles flying up to swarm me, throwing myself up the pillar as fast as I could. The glowing woman was waiting patiently for me. "My parents? My brother? Fen'Harel?" Oh great Mythal… don't let it be my brother or my parents. I'll gladly face Fen'Harel over my parents any day.

"That which you know as Fen'Harel is your salvation through destruction…" Oh great… it _was_ Fen'Harel. I'm so sorry, Mom and Dad… I never wanted to dishonor our family by drawing the attention of _that_ monster.

As I continued to climb up the jagged rocks, I felt beetles clamping onto my feet, biting at my boots. I was just a few feet from the glowing woman. She had her hand stretched out to take mine… and I was struggling to take hers in return. Energy blasts were raining down all around me, small falling rocks slamming some of the beetles struggling to overwhelm me. And… I reached up with all I had, taking her arm.

The glowing woman picked me up, pulling me up right alongside her. She didn't say anything that I remembered, but she did push me through the glowing crack. And as I started to fall through the crack, I heard the voice cry out. "You have failed me. I will find another way… Red Lyrium control…"

And then I fell through the hole, crashing into more rocks… and that's all I remember. Although there were some ugly boots standing right over me. Looked a lot like the ones Cassandra was wearing right now…

…

[Present]

Just looking up at the red face of Cassandra… I'd say I'd done enough to earn a fast kill. I supported a nice clean death over the long-drawn torture they'd likely give me otherwise. If insulting Cassandra's choice of skull-stompers was a quick ticket to a one-way road to my afterlife… then… why not?

Leliana stood just on the other side of Cassandra, carefully thinking about my story. "A glowing woman."

Cassandra glanced from me over to her. "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take this storyteller to the rift."

Leliana glanced over to me for a second, bowing to both Cassandra and me before stepping out the door. I almost wanted to have Leliana stay, if not only to protect me from the horrors this other woman wanted to put me through. "And here I thought we were going to have some tea." I sighed as Leliana stepped out the door.

"After this is all finished." Leliana replied from the other side. "I'll gladly join you for a sip."

As soon as Leliana was gone, the brutish Cassandra bent down to grab my shackles. She single-handedly snapped the bars off with barely a squeeze from her hands, grunting as she did so. The metal sundering to her very touch.

"Jeez… you're a beast." I whispered as the shackles fell off my arms.

Cassandra only grunted as she grabbed me by my glowy pulsy hand, heaving me on my feet. "Only when I need to be." She growled back.

"So… I don't remember what happened after I fell through the crack. What happened to the Conclave?" I at least wanted to know for certain that I killed everyone. I heard the whispers from the guards that stood outside my little shack. That's how I knew for certain that I'm a sole survivor and how everyone at the Conclave was dead. But… I needed to hear it for myself.

Cassandra eyed me suspiciously, sighing as she started dragging me behind her. "It will be easier to just show you." She pulled me to follow her outside. She shoved me through the doorway, pointing up at the sky. The sky was how you'd normally see it; bright blue, white clouds… a giant green vortex made up of the same green energy pulsing through my hand. The vortex was easily as large as the mountain it rested on top of. Right above the swirling vortex was a massive hole in the sky, one where I could see the Fade on the other side. Wow… that's… well… shit.

"We call it the Breach." Cassandra gestured to the massive hole in the sky. "It's a massive rift leading to the world of demons and Kardashians. All of which grow larger with each passing hour." Cassandra turned around to look me in the eye. "It's not the only such rift… just the largest." Cassandra sighed. "All the rifts were created by the explosion at the Conclave."

"Wow…" I didn't know an explosion could literally blow open a hole to hell. "That's… well… shit."

Cassandra nodded. "Shit indeed. And unless we act, these rifts and Kardashians will continue to grow in size until they swallow the world."

Right as we looked up at the glowing sky hole, there was a flash of green lightning that arched out of the hole straight through the vortex, slamming right down into the mountain it rested over top of. My hand immediately pulsed, stronger than ever. My vision blurred for a second as my entire hand twisted in on itself, that pressure building and burning greater than ever. It was so intense that I was on my knees, crying out to Mythal to take the pain away.

Cassandra fell down right beside me, shoving her sausage finger in my face again. "Each time that breach expands, that glowing mark on your hand grows too. And it _is_ killing you." She pointed down at my glowing hand. The glow was even brighter than it was before. The pain was a little more severe too. It was going numb all the way up to my wrist. I couldn't feel a thing from it now, excluding the pressurized pain inside it. Great… well… at least I can use this hand to play games later on. "It may be the key to stopping all this… but there isn't much time."

"The key?" A key to what?

Cassandra nodded. "Yes… the key to closing the breach."

So… my glowing hand could somehow make the giant vortex thing vanish? Who the heck thought that was a plausible use of this painful thing growing in my hand? It's not like someone who knew everything about what's going on in my hand could take one look at it, nod, and say, _Oh yeah, I know exactly what that is. It's the solution to this problem I sort of started out of vehemence towards humans. A half-baked plan to let someone destroy the world while promising they could become a god._

Cassandra's eyes bore into mine, and she shrugged. I think she could see the level of disbelief in my eyes. "It's not the best plan, but it's the only one we have. The only hope we have of closing that thing… and your only chance at living." Was that a threat… or an observation of the thing growing in my hand?

"Is that a threat? You still think I somehow did this?" I couldn't believe this crap. I gestured to the hole in the sky. "You think I'm capable of _that_?" I gestured to my hand. "And _this_? You think I'd _want_ this? When it's _killing_ _me_?"

Cassandra's eyes deadpanned. She seemed very skeptical of anything I said or did. "You are our only suspect. The only one that survived the explosion at the Conclave. You alone know what happened up there, and whether all you've said is a lie or a slight truth… the fact of the matter remains. You are here… that hole is there… and that thing on your hand is going into that hole to close it."

I couldn't help myself. "Ok… but if my hand's going in the hole… I'm not using two fingers; I'm going full fist." I pumped my fist a few times.

Cassandra only rolled her eyes and groaned as she turned around. "I'm starting to get the feeling that I should have let Leliana take you up to the rift… and I should have gone to the forward camp." She snatched me by my arm and started pulling me to follow her. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we arrive at the breach."

I nodded. "Yeah… and then I'm going to fist it until it implodes on itself." What a great plan. I like this plan.

"Then… you're agreeing to come with me, willingly?" She sounded slightly surprised.

I nodded. "Sure… why not? It's either that or die from an excruciating death, right?"

She nodded. "That would be the alternative. But, realistically, I would beat you up, drag you to the breach and then force you to close it with or without your consent."

I only rolled my eyes. "Jeez, and here I thought the old men of my village were pushy."

She only grunted as she led me towards a bridge. "Ever talk to Varric? I think you two would get along famously."

I shook my head. "Never heard of him."

"Then you're lucky. And so am I." She responded as she led us down the bridge towards the breach. I could see the long path ahead of us. I just hope it's a nice safe walk without any interruptions. I just wanted to get this over with, fix this stupid thing on my hand, and go back home to my family to tell them just how badly I screwed up… yet again. I swear this is the last time I go spying. Every single time I leave the safety of my clan, I end up blowing giant holes in the sky. Or people.

* * *

 **Cearbhail:**

 _So, how's that for a first chapter? Not bad, I think. Probably the strongest opening I've ever had. And yeah, I know that I was going to make her a mage when I first started, but rogues have so much more fun going for them... and I can present her as a ninja too. Also fun._


	2. Rift Fisting

**Cearbhail:**

 _And we're moving along.  
_

* * *

We walked for what felt like hours through the snowfall. Snow's never really been a problem for me though. I was raced in the Free Marches, far to the north of wherever the heck we were. The only problem I seemed to have with this place was the lack of available air. We must be high in the mountains or something like that. I don't have much problems with mountains either, I love to climb them. Love to climb trees too. Heck, I just like climbing. It's what I like to do for fun back home. Whenever we move to a new place, I find the nearest mountain or tree and get as high up as I can before we move on. It's… refreshing to me. A great way to get away from my brother, who is afraid of heights in a way that keeps him from following me up trees.

So, walking for hours up this one path leading to the top of the mountain was not so bad for me. Having to listen to Cassandra's retelling of events that led up to me being captured was kind of boring though. As soon as we exited the prison of some town, Cassandra looked back at me. "Welcome to Haven." As she started leading me through the town, she directed my gaze to the people of the town. There were a bunch of them just doing their thing outside, like hanging clothes on the line to dry, or smithing… or just gawking at the massive green tear in the sky.

A few eyes met mine, and I tried my best to smile. A few of the people shied away from looking at me; a few others were scowling at me. One kid even threw a snowball at me, hitting me on the back as we walked past them. Jeez.. what's their problem? Was it because I was an elf? Had to be. Humans hate us.

Cassandra kept quiet the whole time I had snowballs chucked at me from behind. Even as we existed Haven, I could still feel the eyes of the people at my back. Man… they _really_ hate elves. Once we were out of their earshot, I looked over to Cassandra. "Jeez, they must hate elves."

She shook her head. "No, to them… you are already guilty. To them, you are the reason the Conclave has failed, why our Divine Justinia is dead. She was Head of the Chantry, one of the most beloved people in the whole world. The only person who could bring together the Mages and Templars, forge an alliance between the two… and now… she's dead, and so are the leaders of the Mages and Templars. Any chance for a peaceful resolution to the war is now at an end. And to the people of Haven, you're to blame."

Well… that was a lot to take in right off the back. I let myself stop to think about what that could mean as we walked through the snowy paths heading up to the giant green breach in the sky. We walked past a few smoldering piles of green smoke on the way up, and on the way, Cassandra filled me in on more and more details about the war and how it had ended with the Conclave. I had to admit, I never really paid any attention to the stuff going on outside my clan. I only ever cared about living each day and making sure everyone was moderately happy. An unhappy clan is… well… when they're the only people you talk to on a daily basis, and there's like only 20 or 30 of you… life can grow pretty unpleasant if even one person is upset with you. We try not to let things like that happen in our clans. I may hate my family… but even still, I'd never openly do anything to cause resentment in our clan.

We finally came up to a giant gate. Cassandra, after perhaps an hour of silence, turned to look at me. "The Conclave was meant to be a chance at peace between Mages and Templars. And Justinia brought their leaders together, tried to get them to end the war. And now they're dead. And You remain. Everything is uncertain, and in our uncertainty… we lash out. Like children. But, we must be better than that. We must see the bigger picture. Like She did. Divine Justinia. But until the Breach is sealed, I fear that we will continue to lash out."

The gate opened up and we walked out onto a bridge. As the gate closed behind us, I could see that we were standing on a set up camp filled with battlements and soldiers decked out in armor. This was the beginning on the military operation then? That forward camp Cassandra mentioned earlier?

Cassandra turned to face me. "There will be a trial; I can promise no more."

I nodded. "Only sounds fair… I guess."

She smirked slightly at the comment. "Very commendable. Now come." She turned around again, leading me down the bridge. "It's not far."

I looked up at the massive tear in the sky. A lot higher than I can reach, let alone shove my fist into. "Looks far."

Cassandra glanced back. "We're going to test your mark on something smaller than the Breach. See if Solas is right."

"Solas? Who's Solas?" I asked as I jogged to catch up to Cassandra.

"An elf, like you." Cassandra replied as she quickened her pace.

Solas was an elf? Was he Dalish? Or… one of the others? "Is he Dalish?"

"Does it matter?" Was her only reply. And that was the end of our conversation as we jogged up the snowy path towards the Breach. A few soldiers were running in the opposite direction, screaming about the end of the world, as well as having wives and kids… stuff like that.

As we ran up the path, I started seeing more and more destruction. Carts that were smashed and lit on fire… giant craters in the ground. And as I looked up at the sky, the skyline was only growing sicker green, green comets falling from the sky to the ground, slamming and exploding upon impact. If I was a painter, this would be the moment I would pull out my sketchpad and get to work. Too bad I suck at sketching… or painting. Any form or art, really. Wow… I really wanted to work on that now. If only I had a sketchpad.

I was jarred out of my thoughts by my hand exploding in pain. It was painful enough that I was thrown off my feet, falling onto my knees. It felt like my whole hand was tensing up on itself, twisting and splitting open, vanishing completely from the rest of my body. It's really disconcerting!

As I lied on the ground, grasping at my now slightly less painful hand, Cassandra bent down to help me up. "The pulses are becoming stronger now… quicker too." She replied to me as she picked me up. "We must hurry or there won't be enough of you left to fix the Breach."

That's a very good plan. I like this plan. If it will get rid of the thing in my hand, I'm all for destroying the Breach. Too bad it's all still theoretical.

"The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts that show up… and the more demons we face." Cassandra said as she took the front again, racing ahead of me.

I struggled to catch up. My hand was still glowing a bit, the pain a light dull throb. "Demons? What do you mean, demons?" No one said anything about demons! I mean… yeah, the rifts led to the world of demons, but no one said anything about fighting demons!

"Demons spring from the rifts; they swarm around the rifts… using the energy to sustain their lives in our world. And there are many demons between us and the Breach. I suspect we will have to fight some before we arrive." She replied, glancing back at me. "Just stay behind me and I'll keep you alive."

Great… I'm entrusting my safety to a woman that just an hour ago wanted to kill me. Then again, she wanted me to close the Breach and save the world… and then face a trial that will probably end with me dead, so… I guess in a way I'm already dead to her. Great. She just has to hold onto me until I can do the whole 'saving the world part' first. And all because I survived an explosion. Wait… how did I survive the explosion anyway?

"So... the explosion? How did I survive that?"

I looked up at Cassandra, who only shrugged. "No one knows for sure. But people claim you stepped out of a rift, fell unconscious… and that a woman was behind you, in the rift. No one knew who she was, or why she was still in the rift."

So… that would explain why everyone seems to think that I'm responsible for the explosion in the first place. I ended up in the Fade somehow… maybe… and then I miraculously appear out of the giant thing I may have made? And have this glowing thing on my hand that awfully resembles the giant thing in the sky… even reacts painfully to it? And this explosion killed not only the Chantry's leader, but the leaders of a war council striving for peace? And I'm the one stepping out of the thing responsible for ruining all that. Great… just great. No wonder I had kids pelting me with snowballs earlier. I would have gladly done the same a few years ago.

"Get back!" Cassandra screamed as she turned to slam into me. I hadn't been watching where I was going and as I snapped my eyes up, I saw that I was on a bridge. Falling from the sky was one of the massive greet comets I mentioned earlier. Cassandra managed to tackle me, shielding us both with the shield on her back as the comet exploded, the bridge surrendering to the impact. We didn't have enough time to get up, and if I could, I would have use my expert climbing ability… not to mention mediocre agility, to get myself back up the falling pieces of the bridge. But, sadly I was trapped under the gorilla woman, and incapable of leaving. So… it was because of her that both of us were trapped on the bridge as it started to collapse on itself.

As the bridge underneath us began to crumble, I felt a horrible sharp pain as we landed on something. Cassandra wrapped her arms around me as we slammed into the side of debris. "Hold on!" She screamed as we hit the jagged broken structure. I screamed out in pain as we hit, my vision darkening as the force of the impact rolled the two of us off the debris, only to continue rolling down the broken structure. I wrapped my arms around Cassandra, hoping that her protected body would act as a buffer between me and the sharp rocks surrounding me. As we hit the next round, I heard Cassandra clunk against the rock for me, only proving my instincts right in keeping myself attached to her.

There was another slam on my left side, mostly on my elbow and knee, but that was the last impact before rolling onto the icy frozen river right underneath us. I sighed as I felt cold water lapping at my sleeves. The impact of the broken bridge had shattered through the thick ice of the river. Some of the water trapped underneath was pushing its way up… the icy structure I was lying on top of was slowly starting to shatter at the edges. And… I hate to bring this up but… I can't swim. Like… at all. If I go into water deeper than my waist, I'll probably freak out and slowly let myself drown. I just can't swim.

"Shit…" I mumbled as I tried to crawl up to my hands. My elbow and knee would not have it though. They were throbbing intensely… my entire left arm shot to the point where it wouldn't stop shaking. My leg wasn't any better.

Cassandra was shaking the wooziness from her head as she started to pick herself up. "Well, that was unexpected." She spun herself off her back, pushing herself back up to her feet like it was nothing. She brushed the ice and rock off her armor before reaching down to pick up her slightly blood-glistened sword. "Blood?" She said upon inspection. She glanced at me, and I saw her eyes go a bit wide.

"What?" I asked as I looked down to my side. I felt a sharp pain earlier… and I thought it was from the debris. With the long gash in my side… I'm guessing not. "Fuck…" I mumbled again. No wonder I wasn't moving.

"Sit still." Cassandra said as she rushed up to me. There was a crack underneath her foot, and those little ice cracks continued to spread all around me. Cassandra carefully assessed her situation, looking at the ice cracks. And as she did so… I felt and heard more around me start to give. The debris from the bridge was pushing more and more on the ice, forcing some of the river to break open. I was surrounded by the debris. I'm right in the middle of an accident waiting to happen.

"Even under normal circumstances…" I looked up at Cassandra. "I can't swim. I can't even crawl right now." I heard another snap right in front of me. Another line with some water springing up. The line slowly started to spread to another line already pushing a bit of debris underwater. My entire front was freezing cold at this point… I know I can't survive this. I'm as good as dead anyway.

"Try to relax." Cassandra pleaded as she tried to slide her way up to me slowly. As she did so, I heard more and more cracks forming around me… and her weight was not helping the matters of this ice shattering. I felt more of the ice start to sink under the water, even heard a piece of debris break through the ice. Some of the weight holding me down released, which almost made me feel safe. But… more and more cracks were sliding across over to me, actually forming underneath me.

"Fuck…" I repeated.

"Just sit still." She inched forward, which sent another crack further along. A small piece of the riverbed shattered near the edge. I felt my ice shift a bit as more and more of my resting place began to break apart. When Cassandra noticed this, she waved me to her. "Try to inch your way over. Can you do that?"

I struggled to move my arms, pull myself. When I did, I felt some cracks form underneath me, but it didn't break apart. I had managed to move myself by at least an inch. Not so bad. I looked up at Cassandra, and she was nodding to me. "Yes, just like that. Keep moving forward. Another few feet and I'll be able to drag you off that sheet of ice." Sheet of ice?

I glanced around the cracks. The cracks further along touched the ones on the sides… and she was right… they were broken enough that I could see water dripping up. I was floating on a sheet of ice. A sheet of ice that was slowly breaking apart. Great. And now that I was noticing that, I was also noticing how my sheet of ice was rocking side to side. Also fantastic.

"Is there anything you can throw at me? A rope? A branch? A flotation device?" I glanced up at Cassandra.

She nodded. "I'll go grab a polearm. Be right back." Right before she turned to leave, I saw something heading right down towards us. It was another falling green meteor.

I struggled to point at it. "Behind you!" I screamed.

Cassandra turned around just in time to see the meteor crash right in front of her. As it did so, I saw some green slime climb out of the meteor. The green slime started to take form into a floating specter. Another form screamed to life as it turned into flowing lava. Flowing lava… sitting on top of a frozen sheet of ice. Demons. Great… just great. Now, not only did I have to deal with the collapsing ice river, but now we have to deal with demons… especially ones that are manifestation of fire and lava. Great.

Cassandra reached for her shield, bringing it up. "Sit tight. I'll take care of this!" She screamed a challenge as she charged into battle. She slid on the ice as she ran off, but her boots took to the ice like a champ and she skated across the lake like a seasoned professional. It was actually impressive to see her skate across the ice, sword in hand, shield protecting her front. As she charged up to the first demon, one of the green specters, she spun on her heel, slamming the ghost with her shield. With the same spin, she spun her sword right through him, cutting him in two. By the time she was finished with her spin, she was already rounding on the lava demon crawling its way to her.

And while Cassandra was busy rushing to the demon, I heard something rumbling above me. As I looked over my shoulder, I saw a huge chunk of the bridge starting to break loose. I barely had time to scream in horror as that huge chunk broke loose and fell down right on top of me. Well, not directly on top of me, but enough that when it hit, I was thrown off my sheet of ice and into the air. I felt cold water all around me, but I knew that I wasn't underwater. No… I was watching myself fall right onto a safer patch of ice. And I slammed pretty hard into it, which only made that hole in my side hurt more.

I slid for a few seconds before coming to a stop, a small wave of cold water washing overtop of me. Well, I might be cold and wet, but… at least I'm alive. I looked around for Cassandra; she was still busy dancing circles around the fiery demon, protecting herself with her shield from the fire the thing was spitting up.

I was about to flip myself over and let myself relax until I heard a moan from my right. I snapped my head around to see another of those fiery demons standing right my right side. And it was coming right to me.

I pushed myself up, or tried to. The ice was slippery from the water and it led to a face-plant on the ice. Even though I just wanted to lie there and let myself die… I knew I had to get moving or I would actually die. So I pushed myself up onto my knees, looking around for what I was going to do next. There were several weapons from the bridge washed up next to me. A sword next to a shield, a massive claymore, a bow with a quiver of arrows, two daggers, a lance, and a mage's staff. That's… that's a lot of specific weapons gathered right around me. So… I'm a hunter. I'm not too bad with a bow, but… I'm even better with my daggers.

I cast one last glance at the demon; it was moving right for me. I had no time to sit and think. I dove for the daggers, sliding against the ice, pulling myself as I slid to them. Once I reached the daggers, I scooped them up, stabbed the ice, and then pushed myself up onto my knees. I could barely walk, but I could skate. I threw myself on top of the flat shield and then dug my daggers into the ice. The ice was thicker here, thick enough that I wouldn't break through if I did this. I readied myself on the shield as I pulled myself forward. And I started skating on the shield across the river towards the demon.

As I quickly approached the demon, using my daggers as my steering device, I slipped right past him as he breathed a stream of fire at me. The heat was real; it was also nice after being soaked in freezing water for a few minutes. I almost wanted to wrap my arms around the demon and let myself dry before having to kill it. But I didn't really feel like I should take the chance. If I didn't kill this demon it might kill me. So, I had to do something to fight it. I'm pretty good at moving fast; I'm very agile. Just… just not on ice. Or with a banged-up knee. Or a wound in my side. I'm lucky I'm able to keep myself balanced on this shield.

I slid to a halt right behind the demon. I quickly turned myself around, spinning one of the daggers in my hand around as I prepared to throw it. The fiery demon was turning to face me; I had to act fast. I readied my throw and waited for the thing to turn to face me. As its head finally caught up to me, I launched my dagger right at him. I scored him in the head, just enough that it threw him back in agony. I took that as my cue and pushed myself off the shield, sprinting with all I had to the thing. My knee was a bit shaky, my limp perhaps a bit too much. And my side was screaming in pain as I pushed off… but I did it. I threw myself into the air hard enough that I crashed into the burning lava demon. And… it was satisfying. My ears felt like they were going to freeze and fall out. Now… now they felt toasty warm.

Even though I was enjoying my heater, I knew I had to kill this thing before it set me ablaze. I reached for the dagger in his head, grabbing onto it as I slid my other dagger behind its thick neck. With both daggers on each side of his head, I scissored them, cutting the demon's head clear off its shoulders. As I did so, the demon exploded into a thick green paste, slimy green paste.

I fell to my knees, happy that my immediate death was no longer approaching. I escaped the sinking platform of ice, and I escaped being burnt alive by the demon. I'm safe now.

That's when I felt a sword land on my neck. "Drop you weapons, now!" Cassandra bellowed from behind me. … Fuck.

I immediately let the knives fall from my hands, and I held my arms up in what I hope is a peaceful gesture showing respect for her position as a law keeper and cooperation with her not killing me. "Ok, ok. See? They're gone." Please don't kill me. I know I'm an elf, but seriously… please don't kill me.

"Good, now get up." Cassandra lifted her sword, putting the tip right underneath my chin. As she raised her sword, I found myself practically being lifted up by her tip. Fear of having a new chin ring will do a lot to curb any pain in your body, it would seem. As I pushed myself up, Cassandra walked forward, letting her sword brush past my face. Once she was at my back, I made certain that my hands were still very visible to her. No need for her to think that I was somehow… harassing her or doing anything that could make her feel threatened enough that she would kill me. Even though she needs me. She's a weird human. I fucking hate humans now. If they're all like her, especially those who are supposed to protect people like me, then they're nothing good.

Cassandra walked past me, still glaring me to death. "I should remember…" She glanced down at the daggers. "you volunteered to come with me. You could have run while I was fighting… yet you didn't. Go ahead, pick up your weapons. I cannot protect you, and I still need you."

Cassandra looked at my bloody wound on my side, as well as the line she drew across my face. She reached into a pocket and pulled out small bottles of healing potions. "Here, take these potions. Maker knows you'll need the strength."

She tossed me a potion and I was quick to drink it. I felt all that pain in my side quickly vanish, or at least numbed down. The pain in my knee was gone though. And so was the pain in my elbow. Good news. At least I can fight again. "Thanks." I said as I pulled the empty potion from my lips.

Cassandra only grunted in response as she started leading me up the hill. "Let's get a move on. We're still far from the rift." And with that, she took off in a slow run up the path. I took a small breath, checking my side for any bleeding. There was no hole anymore, no open wound. I had to swipe the blood around just to make sure that there wasn't one anymore, but it seemed healed. Healing potions… interesting.

"Don't just stand there." Cassandra called up from further ahead. Behind her I could see some dissolving remains of demons. "Let's get moving before we're too late."

Too late? I glanced up at the giant vortex of green energy in the sky. Yeah… too late is a bit of an understatement by now. But… if I can keep it from getting worse, then great. I rushed as I tried to catch up with her. Falling meteors of green slime were everywhere… and knowing what I just saw, each falling meteor had the potential of having demons inside it.

So, on the two of us went. We scaled up the mountain, pretty much following the frozen river. Every so often a meteor would crash down somewhere nearby and we'd fight the demons. With my newly healed body and two daggers, I was able to sprint circles around the demons, landing small but satisfying hits with each pass, slowly wearing my opponent down. And when I got them weak enough, I would throw myself at them, cutting them down with two daggers in the face. Or decapitation. I almost missed the sparring matches from back home. I trained with the few warriors we had. They wanted the extra practice… and having another guard for the clan is always welcome.

Cassandra and I fought through wave and wave of demons as we made our way up the hill. Each encounter was only in the small digits, somewhere between 2 to 4 demons per encounter. It was enough that the two of us were quick to cut our way through. I was getting a bit tired tough. Whatever wounds I had when the bridge collapsed were more-or-less healed. I was holding up just fine.

Once we got through our sixth or so wave of demons, I was starting to get a bit tired. "Are we there yet?" I couldn't believe I had to ask this question. I'm not a child!

Cassandra glanced back at me. "We're close to the rift now. I can hear the others fighting."

"Others?" What others? The soldiers we left behind? The ones that made it across the bridge?

Cassandra nodded. "You'll see them soon. Let's hurry up." She continued running up our pathway.

I watched her go. She had so much energy… and I'm barely keeping up anymore. I took a deep breath and forced myself to keep up with her, jogging up the path. My muscles were pretty tired. A good energy potion would fix that. Make my muscles stronger and refreshed. No! Bad Ellana. That's how addictions start! I know what happened to my uncle Hiirsei. He drank too many of these potions and ended up needing them to get up in the morning. I will not turn into that! Only when I'm wounded.

I glanced down at my finger. It had a ripped hang-nail on it. Ouch… that's a lot of potential pain right there. And infection. Better take a healing potion… just in case. One more won't hurt.

I reached down for the bottle, almost stopping myself from actually grabbing it. "I need it." I said to myself as I reached for the bottle. My other hand actually snatched it, keeping my hand away from the healing potion. "No… I _need_ it." My other arm refused to let me do it though. I threw my hand away, cursing at myself before saying, "Fine! I don't need it yet."

I charged up the hill after Cassandra. As I reached the top, I could hear the screams of combat. I could hear soldiers up ahead fighting a bunch of demons. Finally, meat shields! I mean… fellow compatriots. Yeah.

I raced up the pathway, which opened up to a broken wall that led to an abandoned fort. Well, I guess it wasn't all that abandoned. It was filled with demons and soldiers fighting each other. There were a bunch of likewise dressed soldiers, but a few that stood out as well. There was a small… dwarf, I think? He had this crazy-looking crossbow with a loader that looked like an X. I wonder if that helps with the draw and release function?

There was also an elf. He was standing in the middle of the battlefield, staff in hand, manipulating those delicate energies that make up spell-craft. I watched as he spun that staff around, whipping icicles out of it like it was nothing, shooting fire out of his palm as he hit a demon on fire… and sent lightning through the ice at the remaining few demons around. Ok… I know I'm good with knives and whatnot… but… I'm sure you've caught onto my jealousy of my younger brother. The one that's training as a mage right now. I really… _really_ wanted to be a mage. I just don't have the talent for it. And as I stood there, watching this other elf create everything out of nothing, giving a stylish smack down to the demons in the battlefield… I was getting jealous again.

"What are you waiting for?" Cassandra asked from somewhere inside the battlefield. I shook the look from my eyes as I charged into the battle, readying my daggers. I ran into the battle, slicing my dagger at the first demon I saw. And as soon as I hit it, it was killed by Cassandra. And just like that… the battle was over. I joined in _that_ late.

There was this light that poured off of the fallen demon that stretched back to this floating green rift. Wow… it looked like the breach in the sky, only… smaller. Easier to shove my fist through. And… it was at just the right elevation for me to stick my hand in. Great! Something I can work with!

Before I could do anything though, that magical elf was already grabbing my hand, dragging me to the small rift. "Quick, before more come through!" He screamed.

"Hey… what?" I didn't have time to ask as he stuck my hand out at the rift. My hand started flaring up and I felt something ache inside. My fingers stretched out and before I knew it, I felt a connection to the rift in front of me. A light shot out of my hand, snatching the rift. I felt my hand… pull? Pull the rift close, like closing a zipper. The light continued to shoot out at the rift and then… I felt like I had to do something. So I pulled my hand away from the rift, to break the connection or something.

I did more than that. When I pulled my hand away… the whole rift exploded into energy particles. Just like that… no more small rift. So… did I just do something? I looked around the recent battlefield at the confused soldiers, to the hopeful Cassandra, to the smirking empty-faced elf. He smirked like he knew something.

"What?" I asked him. He knew something, I knew he did. "What was _that_?"

He only nodded. "That was me proving my theory was correct is all." He glanced at Cassandra. "I was correct. The mark on her hand _can_ close the Breach."

Cassandra glanced at me with slightly less-angry eyes. "Good. Then the Maker has not abandoned us yet."

The Dwarf was pulling at his gloves, partially ignoring us. "Good to know. And here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demon shit before dinner."

I glanced down at the glowing mark on my hand. "How did you figure that out?" I glanced back up at the non-Dalish elf… the uncultured twit that seems to know a lot about magic for some reason.

The elf shrugged. "It is of the same esoteric material as the Breach. I theorized that its nature could conflict with the rifts, perhaps even the Breach, allowing us some amount of control over the esoteric material ourselves. With that in mind… I theorized that you could close the breaches. And I am correct, as always." He glanced back at Cassandra, tipping his head to her respectfully. "Our next move should be obvious."

Cassandra nodded. "We head to the Breach… finish what we started." She glanced past us to the giant hole in the sky. "We have a bit of a journey ahead of us. But now… we have a slight chance at fixing this." She looked at me. "If you can do this… you might just prove your own innocence." Great… I can't wait to prove I shouldn't be killed.

I looked down at my hand. This mark was still giving me weird numbing pain. I couldn't wait to get rid of it. Just a little longer, I guess. A little longer and I'll be rid of it. I'll be back to my home… or maybe somewhere else for a few weeks first in no time.

"She has nothing to prove to you." The dwarf said as he walked up. "She's already proven her innocence. Why else would she even be here?"

Cassandra scowled at the man. "If that is true, then she will have nothing to fear at her trial."

The dwarf scoffed. "Yeah… trial. I can see that going very well for an elf. Alienage or death sentence… I can't decide which is preferable at this point." He looked at me, sticking out his hand. "Varric Tethras: Rogue, storyteller, purveyor of fine cheeses. And as of late… unwelcome tagalong."

I stuck out my hand. "Um… Ellana Lavellan: huntress, potion addict, and halla rider. And as of late… unwelcome heroine." I glanced at Cassandra. She only rolled her eyes at me as I shook Varric's hand.

Cassandra only threw her shield over her shoulder. "Yes, yes, let's get all the introductions out of the way. I am Cassandra Pentaghast. I am a Seeker, a righteous woman who only wants to protect our way of life. And right now… we're wasting time on introductions."

The elf glanced at me, smirking. He bowed at me, which made me feel compelled to bow back. "Solas." He glanced at me thoughtfully. "I guess the only thing to my name at the moment is my study of the rifts." He shrugged at the rest.

I looked at every inch of Solas' face. I didn't see any signs of a vallaslin at all. No scarring remains of removal either. "So… are you Da-"

"I am an elf." Solas replied quickly. "Perhaps not one of… _your_ kind."

" _My_ kind?" I almost echoed him. "Don't you mean _your_ kind as well?"

He shook his head. "No, I follow a different path, one not founded on lies and deceit."

"Deceit?" This little fucker. "Ok, you. Let's get something straight. I don't know which alienage you grew up in but-"

Cassandra groaned. "We haven't the time for this. Let's get a move on."

Varric smiled. "I don't know… I'm enjoying this. I was thinking about making some popcorn, perhaps break out a quill and paper…"

"You're not coming with us anyway, Varric." Cassandra looked back at him. "Wait… quill and paper? Which book?"

He shrugged. "Seeing these two love-birds together is making me feel creative for a romantic romp of a story."

There was a silence that stretched over Cassandra and Varric. Cassandra looked at Solas, looking at us very intently. She finally turned around, waving it off. "Take all the time you need. The Breach can wait."

Varric almost chuckled. "I don't know why that works." He shook his head. "But I won't argue with it." He nodded to us. "Please, go ahead. You have the Seeker's permission."

I looked back at Solas, who was staring right through me. "Your vallaslin… yours is that of June's." He looked at my vallaslin, my tribal blood-mark. It was a tattoo every Dalish elf gets when they grow up. You got to pick the color ink… you got to pick which tattoo you wanted. The tattoo showed a deep connection to our gods, to our heritage. We've always had vallaslin… as far as we know anyway. I picked June's. It wasn't because I felt specifically connected to June or anything… it was because I thought the design was pretty. There were two kinds of June tattoos… I went with the one that had the diamond on the forehead. I thought it was prettier. Classier. I felt more of a connection with Dirthamen… the god of secrets and knowledge. But… his vallaslin was dark and edgy… and creepy. I didn't want to wake up to that face every morning. June's was elegant and… it worked well with my face structure.

I nodded to Solas. "Yes, it's June's. I'm surprised you know that."

He nodded back. "I've spent a lot of time dwelling in the ancient ruins." Oh… so he wasn't some know-nothing prick from an alienage mocking my culture. He's a rogue elf spitting on our traditions instead. "The god of crafts. Interesting tattoo to say the least. And yet…you seem to wear it proudly."

I shrugged. "Why wouldn't I? I love the way it looks." Shit… I shouldn't have said it like that. I'm representing all my clan when I'm away. "I mean… June is a wonderful god to dedicate my life to. Why without him, we wouldn't have the weapons we use to defend ourselves with."

Solas nodded. "Perhaps, but the wars that began recorded history would have been less bloody and involved." Now… that's just a stretch. I'm sure we'd grow out our fingernails or bite each other. Nothing would stop war if someone wanted it to start. Nothing.

"Can we continue this later?" Cassandra asked. We both glanced at her to see her looking up at the sky. The Breach was pulsing again, growing larger. "If we continue to dawdle… I fear we may be too late."

Solas and I locked eyes. We both glared each other down, but I stuck out my hand for a handshake. "Truce?"

He took my hand in his. "Until we are safe anyway."

Well… that's a start. Before this is all over, I'll have him sitting in a chair getting a vallaslin of his own. Just you watch. Might have to get him drunk first but… you know. Shit happens.

* * *

 **Cearbhail:**

 _So, we finally meet Solas and Varric. I'm trying to break away from the conventional conversation they always present at the beginning of the game, while still getting in all that exposition and character defining stuff. It will be hard, but I'm sure I'll figure it out somehow. Anyway... see you later?  
_


	3. Emma Sa'lath

**Cearbhail:**

 _Before we begin... let us not forget the small things. We're all in this world together, whether we like it or not. No one is above another, so... we're all the same. Some of us believe some things, others believe others. Doesn't make us evil, or less, or anything other than normal. So... as the next four years progress, don't forget to stick up for your fellow shems... your fellows. Life is too short... don't make it shorter. Make it better. That's all I have to say. except down below.  
_

* * *

I can't believe the day I'm having. It's almost overwhelming that… this is happening. The end of the world. I thought the Conclave would be the end of it… the end of the war between the Templars and Mages… the end of all that unnecessary hatred, unnecessary violence. The people caught in the middle… the other elves like myself that are shoved to the side, placed as slaves and work labor. I thought the Conclave would fix all that. And that's why… when my Keeper asked me to go to the Conclave, to see what the outcome would be… I was more than glad enough to go as my clan's representative.

And then finding out that someone had sabotaged the Conclave… killed everyone inside… infected me with this… mark thingy… opened up these massive rifts into the sky, and pretty much doomed our entire existence to instability and demons… I can't say that I have any strength left. I'm a lone elf… a lone elf given a heavy burden, a hand with a mark that can supposedly do the impossible. Close the Breach. Save the world. I can't see it being that easy.

At least I'm not alone. A small army of Thedas is here, doing everything they can to fight the demons falling from the sky. And in my small personal squad heading up the mountain is a pretty competent one. Leading us up the pathway leading to the Breach is Cassandra. She's a bit of a gorilla, and I don't mean that in a negative way. I actually commend her strength… not just physical, but her mental strength as well. Her general character as I've seen so far would indicate her ability to stand up for what she believes in, in face of all that's happened, I can see her leading an army into the hell this world has created, and come out the victor, her allies behind her all the way.

Walking right behind Cassandra, leaning lightly on his staff is a Mage by the name of Solas. I'm a little wary of him… but that's because he's not Dalish like I am. I've had a few small chats with him and… well… I'm still uncertain of him, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt right now. We have a small truce, one we agreed upon until we save the world. Once the world is safe, we'll resume our discussion on what's proper for the elven race. As for what I've seen from him… I can say he's a very calculative person. I can see the way his eyes scan everything thing ahead of us. He ponders, he questions… I kind of respect that. And as a Mage, he can do some amazing things. I felt safer with him by my side rather than against it.

And walking right behind me, a short stout dwarf by the name of Varric. As it was, he carried a sort of modified crossbow that he called _Bianca_. If I were a betting girl, and I have been known to play a mean game of Wicked Grace, I'd say there was more to Varric than just the man I saw whenever I looked at him. He has this… thing in his eyes. When he looks at Cassandra, Solas, and then at me… I can see some amount of wheels turning in his head. But… I think he's a good person. I'm not too bad on the whole… seeing what's behind the eyes thing. It's what the Dalish call: _Inan_. It's our word for eyes, but… we believe eyes are portals to the soul. And by learning how to see one's eyes, you can see who that person is upon meeting. Soul Gazing… we spend hours as children learning how to do this. Dating is more about locking eyes than locking lips. And the inan in Varric tell me of a sad tale, one I would like to hear by the end of all this.

There are only four of us. And we're heading up to the Breach, only the four of us as far as I can tell. As I looked up to the sky, I can see the falling meteors filled with potential demon spawn. And we'll likely have to fight through them all just to reach the Breach. And with Cassandra leading us… I know we'll make it up there. Some of us might die along the way. Some of us will probably fall to our knees, exhausted by the effort. What we find at the summit… the remains of the Conclave… I cannot say what we will do. I didn't come here alone. Every hunter travels with a buddy. I haven't seen him. I refused to think about him. I don't want to see him either. Not at the Conclave. Not after all that's happened. I don't want to walk up there and see him… well… I can't think about it. Not now.

I can't say that for certain that everything will be ok, even if we are successful in closing the Breach. There will still be things that might turn up… and we still need to find out what caused the Breach in the first place, who threw all this together. This could have been some kind of accident, or… this could have been planned. Like I said earlier: sabotage. And it won't get any easier if it was. Templars and Mages alike will likely see this as the renewal of their war. And all the innocents will continue to be caught in the crossfire. People will continue to be pushed down; people will continue to suffer at the hands of two major parties' internal struggle for power. And meanwhile, there will be the victors at the end of the day that will celebrate hand-in-hand over the corpses of all those caught in the middle. "Victory, we won! The Templars have proven their might over the demonic mages." And meanwhile… there will be families torn apart by the war that befell around them. People victimized for supporting the Mages, or even having a Mage in their family. Not to mention all the other minorities like the elves in the alienages. Or even my Dalish clans.

Glancing up at the massive rift in the sky… the massive task at hand… I continued to feel only that pit in my throat, the rock in my stomach. My hands trembled; the sour wind flowing from the Breach smelled of brimstone and oddly… mothballs. Weird. The air felt stale, used, bland. And the higher we went, the worse it got. And the higher we went, the more I could see the wreckage of the Conclave. _Emma sa'lath_. Elgarlen. I hope I don't see him up there. I really hope I don't see him up there.

"We're almost there." Cassandra called over her shoulder. She glanced back at me. "Back at the camp… you were faced with a challenging decision."

The challenging decision. Yeah… I know. When we showed up to the forward camp; we met up with Leliana. She told us that there was a fast way to the top of the Breach, a small pathway we could navigate through. It was the fastest way to the Breach, let alone the safest. And while we used it, the main offensive force would push up the widest path, draw the demons out… face them in combat while we basically stealthed our way to the Breach.

The alternative of course was to march up with the army, help them destroy the demons. I would be placing myself at risk by engaging this massive force. There were a lot of demons, and not too many soldiers anymore. Everyone was tired, and it was sure to fall apart rather quickly. It was basically a suicide run. Cassandra left the choice up to me. If we marched with the army… we would likely die. And if we died, the Breach would never be closed, and the world would fall to whatever darkness it spawned. If we took the safe path while the army engaged the demons… they would surely all die, but at the price that our team would be refreshed enough that we could close the Breach while the demons were distracted with the good people of Thedas.

And if you're able to reason it out… my squad is not fighting anything. I can see it below me right as we speak. Demons spilling out onto what remains of the army. A whole line of people lined up, shields forming a protective circle, spears aimed outward as they prepared to catch the first wave of demons. I watched as they caught the first wave of demons. Archers raining arrows on top of whatever they could, in a brave attempt at pushing the demonic threat. I watched as the line of shields slowly started to waver. Any second… it would break.

I looked away from the army to what looked like a ruined temple. We were so close… so very close. But as I looked down, I could see that the line of shield carriers was already falling apart. And I'm not sure the tired soldiers could defend themselves for very long.

"I commend you on your decision." Cassandra continued. "You chose the mission over lives. It was not an easy decision to make, but I respect you for it." She walked up, looking down at the battle. "I know whatever I say cannot make you feel better about this… but those men will give their lives for the good of the world. Their deaths will mean our success."

"Tell that to their children." I replied. I couldn't let this stand. I change my mind. I let a small breath escape. "I was a coward." I unsheathed my daggers. I wasn't going to let it end like this.

"Think about what you are doing." Cassandra said. She pointed to the ruined temple. "We are right here! We can finish this… we can save the world."

"What world do I deserve to live in if I trade lives to live in it?" I glanced back at Cassandra.

"The kind of world that still exists, which ours won't if you die!" She replied back, a bit defensive. She pointed down to the battlefield. "Do you see how many demons are down there? Do you see just what you are planning is…"

"Insane." Varric said as he walked up.

"Suicide." Cassandra replied.

I glance down at Varric, seeing him smile up at me. "I like your spirit." He said as he pulled Bianca out of his sheath. "The odds are never in our favor; and if they are… well… then it's just a trap. Let's show these demons what it means to be human. Or… well… us." He nudged me on the hips with his shoulder. Yeah, he's still half my size.

I nodded. "Cover me." I spun my daggers around into a backhand and jumped off the path. I used to run down trees and mountains all the time. This would be no problem for me.

"Dammit." I heard Cassandra cry as I ran down the mountainside. I didn't care. I wouldn't let these men die for this suicide mission. I'm in the squad that's supposed to save the world. So… if there is a suicide squad, I'm the one calling the shots. I'm going to die either way, might as well go out doing the right thing… not the smart thing.

I was fast approaching the bottom of the mountain, right about to crash into the first wave of demons. I didn't have a lot of skill other than what I used to hunt animals in the forest. I have a couple knives… and that's it right now. No bow, no arrows. Just two small daggers. Better make them count.

I screamed a challenge as I pushed off the wall, jumping right into the horde of demons. The demons I was falling into looked like giant black slugs wearing light leather armor, faces (or lack thereof) were covered in helms. As I screamed at them, they looked up at me with their smudged expressions of whispy malevolence. I crashed down right on top of two of them, slamming my daggers into their faces. I had enough falling momentum to squash the demons underneath me. Just me landing left a hole in the demon charge, and the shield chargers took advantage of that. They pushed as a unit, slamming a way through the hole and bringing strength back to the whole shield wall.

I didn't just sit there and watch either. When I stood up, I slammed my daggers into the demons next to me, making very short work of them. But I wasn't all that safe either. Demons were already coming down on me, and I was on the wrong side of the shield wall. Two spears planted themselves over my shoulders, and I heard, "We have your back." from a soldier behind me.

I spun my daggers around, reassuring my grip on them as I waited for the rest of the horde to fall upon me. They screeched as they reached out for me, closing only inches away, and that's when I saw one's head snap to the side, a massive bolt sticking out of it. I didn't have to glance up to know that it was Varric and his crossbow covering me like he said he would. As one demon got slammed in the head, three more snaked past him, sliding their way up to me. I brought my daggers up, ready to charge into the fray, to finish this one way or another. Falon'Din… I may be finding myself in your company soon enough.

As the first demon came within range of my dagger, a flash of silver crashed down on top of it, smashing the demon flat. Standing right in front of me, in a perfect hero landing pose, was Cassandra, standing on top of her shield, which was used to smash the demon into Fade paste. She cast a small glance at me, glaring as angry as possible, and before I could even utter a small reply, her sword flashed out all around her. Every demon cut in two, bleeding ectoplasm into the air as she severed their ties to our realm. "You never cease to amaze me." She muttered at the end of her slash. "You had a free chance… one where we would not face many threats. And yet… here you are, standing in front of a shield wall, ready to die for humans that probably hate you more than the demons."

I was still unable to reply to her, still frozen in the idea that Cassandra actually leapt down to join me. Cassandra held a glance at me for a full blink before turning to face the rest of the horde. "Stay behind me, and cover my back. We'll work our way through and the soldiers will form up behind us, cut off the advancing demons. And when we are in a protective circle… we'll destroy the demons."

The shield wall behind us responded to Cassandra's orders with an enthusiastic war call… or mating call? It sounded like 'uhgraah' or something like that. Ugh… humans. They bark too much. I actually looked over my shoulder in disgust at their massive war call, cringing at the unified scream. It hurt my ears just to hear it.

Looking back at Cassandra and how she was already moving forward, slashing with her sword at anything in front of her, I decided it was best if it literally followed behind her. As we started moving inward, I bent down to pick up Cassandra's shield off the now-ecto paste ex-demon stuff. The front of the shield was dripping with the stuff like it was made out of slime or something, and it smelled awful. Like spoiled eggs awful. Is this what the Fade smells like? Rotten eggs? Yuck. Maybe I don't want to be a mage after all.

"We need to make a path!" Cassandra screamed up at the path ahead of us, up at Solas and Varric. "Can you handle that?"

I glanced up at Solas. He stood there, back straight, eyes sharp as an eagle's, his magick staff carried with a weight I'd never imagined among our elders, or our Keepers. There was something about him… something grand. I couldn't figure out what it was but… just looking up at Solas… I could see him standing before the gods of old and perhaps standing on equal terms with them. And as he spun the staff around, I saw his body shift with power, his staff casting a light glow, a small aura surrounding both him and his staff. His eyes drawn closed in concentration, every inch of his body focused on the casting of whatever spell he was formulating in his mind. And with a quick and precise wave of his staff, I heard and felt the spell overtake the battlefield around me.

I was suddenly brought back to the battle as sheets of ice formed up all around Cassandra and me, creating a straight path through to the other side of the battlefield. There was now only a single lane for us to pass through. With few demons left in whole pieces for us to deal with. The ones that were cut in half or in pieces started dying, returning to the green slime they were born from.

"Follow me!" Cassandra roared as she charged forward, taking her shield from me. She drew her shield in front of her and took to charging what remained of the demons. I watched as she stomped through the first one, bashing it out of the way. As she rounded on the second one, she stuck her foot out, kicking it down. A wave of her sword slashed its arms off. I followed behind her, stabbing whatever I could with my daggers. Each strike made more of that nasty smell. It was making me nauseous. My head was spinning, and I'm not sure it was all the smell's fault. I was literally going into the middle of this battlefield with two daggers and killing things… demons at that. The most I've ever done was shoot a rabbit with an arrow and when I barely hit it, chased it down and finished it off with a carefully thrown dagger. This is slightly more violent. Just slightly.

As Cassandra and I pushed our way in, the shield carriers were right behind us. Demons on the other side of the wall of ice were pounding away, trying their best to break through. I could hear the shift cracking and shifting. It reminded me of the sheet of ice I almost died on. I couldn't think about that though. I had to get through this stupid place, destroy the stupid rift, and then… go home. Back home and tell my clan that we need to pack up and head towards the nearest cave and bunker down. The Conclave had failed and soon enough Tevinter would be hunting us down.

"We'll meet you up ahead." Varric called down to us. Solas and he disappeared from view as they continued on to the Breach. Just imagine, by now the Breach would be sealed. And… everyone behind us would probably be dead. And I'd managed to keep everyone alive so far. I just hoped it remained that way.

I continued behind Cassandra. She was a whirlwind of death, her sword moving so quickly that everything in front of her turned into green gore that rained down all around me. My favorite blouse and jacket were practically ruined by today's events. I'm burning all my clothes by the end of the night. And maybe shaving my head bald. Huh.. I wonder if that's why Solas has no hair? He got sick of having green slime in it? Maybe.

Cassandra quickly slashed through the last demon, completely opening up a passage through the slender pathway. I quickly jogged through, letting the many shield and lance carriers pass through, forming up to help with closing off the rest of the box around the two split demon hordes. So far the ice wall was holding up. "Archers! Blast them. Kill as many as you can before the wall breaks!" Cassandra screamed to the other side of the wall which was protected by a small band of shield carriers. The archers wasted no time and shot their arrows into the sky, just high enough that they would fly up over the wall and come crashing down on top of the demons. It took a few seconds to see the first volley take effect, but immediately after that, it was like a non-ending rain of arrows falling down around the demon horde. Slowly, we started seeing more and more demons suddenly give up their lives and reduce to the green slime they were formed from. And with each demon down and dying, the less of them to throw themselves at Solas' wall of ice.

It only took a few moments, and the wall held up fine, but it became abundantly clear that more than half of the demons were dead or dying, and only a few were strong enough to even be a threat to anyone. Cassandra's army had time to regroup, reorganize, and by the time we got to the point where the demons were basically finished off, Cassandra looked over at me. "We're moving on. The troops can handle the rest without us."

I cast a final glance back at the army, hoping she was right. I felt pretty good… pretty happy that I decided to risk my life to save the lives of all these soldiers. They deserved to go home, be with their families, and most importantly… remember that an elf saved their asses.

I quickly followed behind Cassandra up to the gate, or… what remined of it. Most of the wall was blown down. Debris was everywhere. Great. "Right beyond this…" Cassandra waved to the destroyed gate. "is all that remains of the Temple of Sacred Ashes."

And that was all she said before heading on in. Not even a glance in my direction or how I felt to be coming back to here. I glanced around. I found a few bodies thrown about… some limbs too. Broken staves… swords sticking out in the snow like pins in a pin cushion. This is what I was blamed for. Everyone thought _I_ did this.

My hand pulsed again, tightening up just enough that I almost fell to my knees in pain. Just as quickly as the pain flared up, down it went, almost returning to normal. I was left there in silence as I stared at my glowing hand. I couldn't wait to be rid of this thing. Looking up at the giant-ass Breach swirling in the sky right above me… I wondered how I was going to close that. A small breach was one thing… but _that_? I can't fist my way through that… my arm's not long enough!

"You coming?" Cassandra called from the gateway. "Or has all this been for naught?"

What a snarky little shem. "Yeah… coming." I tried to forget my hand and forced myself to follow after her.

I followed Cassandra into what remained of the temple. And… it was bloody inside. Bodies everywhere, most of them charred into the surrounding stonework. The smell of rotting flesh was still pungent, and my head spun as I walked into the hallway, the sight of bodies crippled, mangled, and fused with the wall… I leaned over and vomited. No amount of lembas bread will fix this.

"I know it's hard to see, but we must move on." Cassandra called after me.

I heard footsteps behind me, footsteps that had a light patter on the stone. I knew of only one person that walked so quietly and it made my ears perk as I lifted my head to look at the entrance. At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. It wasn't Elgarlen… it was Leliana. And with that… my heart sank for the second time today. When she saw me leaning over, a puddle forming in front of me, she nodded. "Congratulations… you still have a soul." She patted me on the back as she walked past. "I have scouts and soldiers forming up around the Breach. If this fails… we'll likely bring something with us."

"I know." Cassandra replied. "Come to us when you are ready. We're eager to finish this… and let me remind you of what's at stake. Your life." With that, Cassandra headed on in with Leliana. Ass.

I took a few seconds to compose myself. And after spending a few seconds to let the world return to me… I soon realized that I was voluntarily standing in a hallway filled with rotting corpses that smelled of it. I could almost feel the trapped shems staring at me from the Fade. I couldn't stand here anymore. I had to move on. I forced myself to stand up and push on into the hallway, forcing my eyes to stand high, high enough that I wouldn't ever look down to see what was there. I didn't need the memory; I didn't need to see what I shouldn't need to remember.

As I walked through the hall, I swore I felt a small hand place on my back, a small whisper of, " _Vhenan'ara_." It was so subtle that I almost missed it, but it was powerful enough to cause me to stop… make my whole back shiver with anticipation… knowing. My head slowly snaked its way to the charred corpse on the floor. The small remnants of leather boots… the pointy ears… the earing I made for him. Elgarlen…

He was blasted to the wall, fused like all the rest. An outline of where his hood rested against the wall singed perfectly… his ears charred but still recognizable. His face melted but… still his. I felt my knees collapse. I fell to my knees, numb to the pain. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He didn't escape. Not like I did. This was him. This was what remained.

" _Abelas_ …" I cried as I reached out for him. " _Halamshiral_?" I could feel my throat closing up as I looked at his charred remains. This couldn't be the end… this couldn't be. I couldn't just let him be like this. I had to close this out the way it needed to be. What was the old saying? " _Falon'Din ghilani na'elgar hamin_." I rested my head on what remained of his. " _Ar nadas tel'numin_." I just sat there for a few seconds before I heard light footsteps behind me. Probably Cassandra coming to remind me that we're on a tight schedule. I had to wrap this up. I kissed Elgarlen on the forehead… or what remained of it. " _Tel'enfenim, emma sa'lath_. I will stand strong. I will not bow."

" _Ar Solas_ …" I heard behind me, and it was just enough to make me jump. Leaning on his staff, and looking ever amused, was Solas. He walked into the hallway, shaking his head lightly as he approached me. "The Elvhen word you were looking for… _Solas_ … its means… to stand strong. My parents named me it… so that I would be strong in the face of what we lived through." He paced up slowly up to me, looking at the charred remains of my boyfriend. "It's been a while since I heard the old language spoken so… well… brokenly." He shrugged. "It was a nice attempt though."

I almost felt defensive as my cheeks turned bright pink. "We don't know a lot of words. We…"

"Have to be creative." He nodded. "I've heard it before." He walked over to me, bending his knees to join me on the floor. "I was sent to bring you back… however, I think Cassandra will understand… given the circumstances."

I shook my head. "No… this has to come to an end. _Halamshiral_. This is the end of our journey."

He nodded. "You speak wonderfully. You almost make me sick for home." He helped me up. " _Tel'ena suledin, da'len_." He spoke it so easily, as if he didn't have to think about what he said. Learning Elvhen wasn't so second nature for us. We're finding words all the time, but even so… barely any of us actually learn how to speak it so casually. I still couldn't remember half the written characters.

Solas gave me a small warm smile before helping me to walk out of the room. "While you were in here, everyone has come up with a plan of action."

We joined Cassandra outside in the main… what would I call this? Ruined courtyard? Blown away castle? I couldn't even think at the moment. I just wanted to get this over with. Seeing Elgarlen's body like that… I can't… I just can't.

Solas directed my gaze up at the small closed crystal floating perhaps 20 feet off the ground. It was caught in the middle of a beam of green light, which led to the massive maelstrom leading up to the Breach. "We believe if we close that Rift… the first to ever emerge, that the Breach will close in on itself. No more Rift… no more Breach. Think it will work?" Solas looked down at me.

I just nodded. "Sure. Let's close the thing."

He smirked. "It is currently inactive, so… we must open it in order for us to close it."

I shrugged. "Sure, whatever." Anything, let's just end it.

I think Solas could see through my soul, like any good elf. He nodded with full understanding and guided me down through the temple's remains. Cassandra and Varric were quiet through the whole thing as they watched the skies for any enemies. I knew Leliana was around and so were many of her troops. I could hear them coughing in all the silence. All I could think about though was Elgarlen's face… and the last smile he gave me before I told him I was hitting up the buffet line. He wanted to actually gather information on the people here. I just wanted to eat. And… I'm the one still here somehow.

 _NOW IS THE HOUR OF OUR VICTORY._ I heard a whisper of a voice in my mind.

"What was that?" Cassandra asked as she unsheathed her sword, looking for an enemy that clearly didn't exist. We stood there for a few seconds before Cassandra started leading us back down the broken temple.

 _BRING FORTH THE SACRIFICE._ The voice called again, whispering into my mind.

"What are we hearing?" Cassandra asked.

"If I had to guess… the one who created the Breach." Solas said softly, certainly.

We continued on, and as we did, we ended up passing some giant red pillars of glowing material. I could hear Varric's breath come to a stop as he cursed in his language. "Red Lyrium? Here? What? Fuck? Why?"

"There is much going on here." Cassandra. She glanced at me. "You might just be innocent after all."

I only scoffed in reply. I really didn't care what she thought right now. Now I had to tell the keeper that Elgarlen was never coming back. How would I break that to his parents? To his sister?

 _KEEP THE SACRIFICE STILL._ The voice continued.

We finally came to a stop at the bottom of the courtyard, having to jump the final four feet or so, landing right in front of the massive crystalline rift. It was much bigger now that we were in front of it. And I was going to have to shoot my magick green palm beam at it until it decides to give in and implode. Great. And one this big… I wouldn't be surprised if I die in the process. Oh well… it would be easier than telling Elgarlen's sister about his death.

 _Someone help me!_ A new voice cried out.

 _What's going on here?_ My… my voice called out. My voice? What? What the heck?

"That was your voice." Cassandra said from behind me. I was trying to prepare my burning fist of love when she called over to me. And now… I was suspecting Cassandra's sword to magically appear in my back. "The Most Holy called out to you." Yup… and now she ' _knows_ ' I'm the killer.

My hand flashed brightly and… then I started seeing this massive picture in front of me. It was like the Rift was showing us the past. It was forming inside my mind… almost like I was there, watching a movie… or a cinematic… something recorded on crystal balls and viewed on occasion. With high definition.

In the vision in my head… I saw a massive creature, disfigured and hidden in shadow… reaching out for an old woman dressed in priestess robes, a woman that was trapped in a crucifix trap… and as I looked closer at the image, I knew it was the Divine Justinia. She was being held by the mysterious shadow creature with the deep voice. As I watched, I could see me running into the room, looking severely perplexed by the whole thing. I looked at the shadow man and then at Divine Justinia. I instantly reached for my hidden daggers, screaming, "What's going on here?"

The Divine Justinia looked over at me. "Run, you fool! Warn the others!"

The darkness looked at me, saying, "We have another intruder. Kill the elf." And that's when I turned to run, and that's also when the vision faded away.

"You _were_ there!" Cassandra's voice was piercing right through me. Just like her blade would be any second, no doubt.

"Girl… I'd run." Varric said with a heavy sigh.

Cassandra held up her hand to silence Varric. "Who was that? Who attacked the Divine? Is she… is she alright? Did she make it out with you? What were we seeing? What happened?!"

I shook my head as madly as I could. I tried to remember… _anything_. I was eating something… I was vomiting… I ran to the bathroom… looked myself in the mirror… prepared myself to dance with Elgarlen… tell him how I felt… and then… I woke up in the Fade. And then in a cell. That was all I could remember. "I don't know!" I screamed to Cassandra as clearly as I could. "I have no memory of this… of any of this!" I waved my hand around the whole broken structure of the place. "I don't know anything about the voice… I don't know what happened at the Conclave… I don't know why I'm feking alive!"

Solas walked past us and up to the Rift. "This Rift holds small glimpses of memories… like a small glimpse of time caught and recorded." He turned to face us. "The Rift is closed, and to get rid of it, we will need to open it. And opening it will attract a lot of attention."

Cassandra smirked. "And that means demons. Everyone!" She looked around the fallen temple. "Get ready." She looked at me. "We will continue this later."

I only sighed. "Let's just get this over with." I stuck my hand out to the Rift. All I had to do was open it, right? So… I opened my palm and focused on the Rift. I tried to make a connection with it and I felt that beam of light shoot out of me, slamming into the Rift. I focused on prying the damn thing open, and as I did, I felt the Rift split open for me. There was a slam of that nasty rotten egg smell and a wind that blew me off my feet. But I did it… the Rift was open.

"Well…" Varric started to say. "Let's close the damn thing before…"

There was a cackling growl and out of the open rift came a flash of lightning… which began to form into a massive demon the likes I've never seen. A monstrous creature with nine black beady eyes appeared from the flash of light, scales as thick as metal, spikes and spines as long as a shem's body… huge forearm spikes that could bash through steel like nothing. And this creature looked angry… it looked savage.

"Well…" Varric shook his head, reaching for his crossbow. "Shit."

My words exactly.

* * *

 **Cearbhail:**

 _So... I know I used a lot of elven words. So, for each chapter I write, I will translate each phrase down here. I would up top, but I like giving you people a challenge. Here we go:  
_

 _Emma sa'lath: my one love. Shem: means quick... also a very nasty term in regard for humans._ _Vhenan'ara: heart's desire. Abelas... sorry._

 _Falon'Din ghilani na'elgar hamin. May Falon'Din guide your soul to peace.  
_

 _Ar nadas tel'numin. I will not cry.  
_

 _Tel'enfenim, emma sa'lath. Do not fear, my one love.  
_

 _Tel'ena suledin, da'len. Do not give into despair, young one. (Kind of)  
_


	4. Harold of Non-Draste?

**Cearbhail:**

 _So, I'm going to be throwing a lot at you this chapter. The fight with the demon did not go expected (my fingers dictated that) and was a lot shorter than I planned on. So... I combined it with the following chapter. So, two chapters for one! It's 12 pages long. Enjoy that.  
_

* * *

"We need to get everyone moving, now! Form up ranks, take positions! Archers, prepare first volley! Fire!" Cassandra cried from right beside me.

I readied my daggers, looking up at the massive hulking… thing. The massive blunder of spines, spikes, scales, claws, teeth, nails. And eyes… like six of them. Oh gods… it's like a massive tank spider. What the fuck? What am I supposed to do to fight something like that? I'm used to shooting deer in the blind… and then falling down on top of them from tree branches after hours of quiet sneaking around! I'm not… I'm can't… I'm hyperventilating! I can't fight something like this!

"Snoooo-kiiii-ki-ki." An unrealistically deep gravely growl poured from an unlikely source, the massive rift demon standing right in front of me, pierced the sky. As it did so, lightning sprung from its body, crashing into the ground around it. I stood there like an idiot as lightning crashed along the ground, a massive beam-whip flying up to me.

"Move, you idiot!" Cassandra shoved me to the side, knocking me to the ground, taking the full attack of the lightning beam-whip with her shield. She growled through her clenched teeth as she pushed against the whip, holding her ground, actually throwing the whip off her shield, rolling underneath it, and began charging up to the demon, to attack it head on.

I started to stand up, help Cassandra take the fight to the… whatever it was. As I rolled to my feet, I was welcomed to a slap in the chest with one of the lightning whips. A full course of lightning surged through me, instantly picking me off my feet and throwing me across the field. I hit the ground hard, my breath exploding out of my lungs. I rolled for a few seconds, finally coming to a stop. My limbs seemed paralyzed, barely able to move. Great… guess I'm stuck here for a few seconds while my body reboots.

I continued to lay on the ground for a few minutes. I'm not sure what's even going on anymore. I'm on my back; my head is spinning; my whole body throbbing in pain. I'm staring up at the giant green skyline, the many floating landmasses seemingly suspended in the sky. Everything was blurry, everything was spinning; and I'm pretty sure I was not even conscious. I'm slowly drifting in and out of what I'm guessing is battle sleep. You know… the sleep you try to have when you're on the brink of war with another tribe, but you know that you still need to tend to normal functions like sleeping. It's a conscious sleep, one where your senses are always alert, ready for any sound that comes into your ears. It's like that, only… I'm awake the whole time.

I felt a hand plant on my shoulder. "Kid, you ok?" Varric said, squatting down next to me. I didn't even hear him come over to me. Man… he's silent.

I nodded. "No… not at all." I don't know why I was nodding, I think it was the hit of lightning I took just a few seconds ago messed up my nervous response system, or something like that. Or was it minutes? _Evanuris_ , I have no idea anymore.

Varric glanced over to the giant monster that was plowing through our teammates. "Oh, fu-" He reached down, grabbing me by my shoulders, pulling me with him as he ran, diving. Right where I was laying was now covered by a massive lightning whip. The massive tank of a demon was wildly waving his giant lightning whip around, hitting whatever he could. What on in the Fade was that thing?

"Record Keeper, it's me, Solas!" Solas screamed out, raising a bubble shield of magic around himself as the lightning whip landed over top of him. His bubble shield seemed to form just in time, keeping him safe as the lightning coiled over top of him. "This is not your purpose! Snap out of it!"

"Snooo…. Kiii!" The demon cried, slashing out with the whip again, catching several soldiers charging up to it.

I watched as several archers started pelting the demon with their arrows. The demon barely even reacted, glancing up at the archers. Solas glanced back at the archers, waving to them. "No! You'll only make her angry! She's a nice spirit… just give her-"

Solas was interrupted as the demon stuck its hand out, blasting the archers with a massive ball of exploding lightning. The archers cried out, diving out of the way as the entire wall exploded. I could see blood and guts littering the sky, raining down on top of us, severed limbs landing all around us. Jeez! I haven't seen this much blood since my trip to Kirkwall last year.

" _Tel'bora Dirth_!" Solas screamed, which seemed to catch the demon's attention. "You need to calm down! _Ma sahlin nadas hamin_! _Ir Solas_! _Ma falon_!"

The demon started calming down, glancing at Solas with its… six blinking eyes. Eww… just thinking about it was like staring at a massive spider troll thing…and I don't like thinking about it. I glanced at Varric, who was still holding my shoulders, preparing to drag us off if the creature started attacking again. "Varric… what is that?"

He glanced at me. "What? The Pride Demon? You've never seen one before? You must never go to Kirkwall… they're very common these days." Oh right… the Kirkwall Circle incident. I remember vaguely seeing these things tearing down the tower. What a weird day to actually stop by a town to see how humans were doing without our guidance. And we never went back.

Varric looked back at me. "So… do you know what squinty is saying?"

I nodded. "Yeah… Solas is pleading with … _To not lose Knowledge_ , man that's a weird name. Solas wants her to be calm… and it seems to be working." Was Solas actually talking down a demon? That's… that's kind of impressive. If he can pull this off, we could save ourselves from an unnecessary conflict.

"Soldiers, the demon is distracted!" Cassandra screamed. Right at she said that, I saw her suddenly appear at the demon's face, slapping it with her sword, drawing a nice line right through its face. "Quick, while it's calm and complacent… kill it!"

"No!" Solas screamed, but it was too late. Arrows and spears were launched into the demon, hitting it hard enough that it staggered back, protecting its scarred face. The demon glanced regretfully at Solas, as if apologizing to him, but then its eyes narrowed and it bellowed out a loud screech, lightning surging out of it as it turned to Cassandra.

"This is not good." Varric said as he started pulling me up. "Whatever squinty was up to was ruined by our prestigious joy killer. Well… looks like we're going to die unless we do something." He looked down at me. "Any ideas?"

I looked for my two daggers, seeing them lying in the dirt that was pulverized by the Pride Demon.

"Snooookiiii!" The demon screamed, launching lightning all around us. Several soldiers were pulsing as the lightning consumed them. They exploded.

"Um… kill it with fire?" It's a demon after all. And it was killing people. That's not a good thing. That's a very bad thing. And bad things need to die.

Varric nodded. "Sounds about right." He readied his crossbow. "Well, let's get on with killing this thing."

"No!" Solas screamed. "Listen to me." He glowered over to me. "If you use your mark on the rift… it will explode, causing a small disturbance. It will weaken her… and in that time, I can change her back! You have to trust me!"

"This is no time to be taking any chances!" Cassandra screamed through her shield. "We need to work together; take this demon down! If even one person holds back… we'll all die!"

"Don't listen to her!" Solas screamed back. "We'll keep her distracted, you disrupt the rift!"

"Don't listen to him. We need your help killing this beast."

"Don't listen to her! Help me."

"No, help me!"

Oh, _Evanuris,_ I hate branching decisions. No matter who I choose, someone is going to hate me, and the other is going to love me. So… which one did I like more? The non-Dalish snarky elf guy who happens to have a perfect face and magick (which I really want to learn), or the evil cutthroat bitch that kidnapped me, tortured me, and then told me I'm going to close a breach to the underworld and to show her thanks will send me to my death? Huh… such a hard decision. On one hand… woman that wants me dead. On the other… non-Dalish guy.

"No, how about this." Varric pitched in. "We run. They die… we're free. The end."

That… that was a very appealing idea for me. Ditch the whole shit storm altogether.

"What?" Cassandra said over her shoulder. "I couldn't hear you, Varric. It sounded like you were abandoning on your next big hit: The Chronicles of the Breach."

Varric paused. "Shit… she knew the exact button to push." He glanced at me. "Sorry, kid. Guess we're staying."

I looked over to Solas, and then over to Cassandra. Which one to choose? Which one to support? Which one would I rather not be bitched back to by afterwards? I looked over to the demon… and I kind of… well… I don't care for demons. I also don't care for being blown up by one either. So…

I ran for the rift, which I heard Cassandra screaming, "Oh you little-". She was cut off as lightning crashed down around her, forcing her to throw her shield up. "Ok, everyone. Defend yourselves. Let's see if we can overpower it while our esteemed protagonist gets us all killed."

Fuck you too, Cassandra. I raced over the severed exploded limbs of all the soldiers and archers that died while we ran from the pride demon, racing over to the house-sized green vortex boxy energy rift thingy. Once I got close enough, I kind of felt the rift pull me in, like it had its own gravity. I pushed my left hand out, which was throbbing with its own gravity. The green beam of unity snaked out of my hand, snatching the rift with the green tentacles of hentai pleasure, reaching deep inside it as it grabbed ahold of the release. I heard the rift moan as I began to pull and as I did, I felt the rift explode. The rift pulled me in deeper before it suddenly exploded, throwing me off my feet, slamming me and almost everyone around me with green Fade ectoplasm that tasted heavily of fear and regret.

The shockwave that came from the rift explosion threw the pride demon to its knees, weakened by the closing of the gate to its world. Cassandra and her fellow soldiers were thrown off their feet by the same aftershock explosion, leaving only Solas standing on his feet. He gently walked up to the kneeling demon, placing his hand on the demon's head. He whispered silent words to the demon and it started to glow. The hard scaly shell started to dissipate, revealing a cloudy energy woman with glowing eyes.

I've never seen a spirit before. I mean… sure, we have our sacred resting grounds where we lay our dead. We sometimes see their spirits lingering, but a physical spirit from the Fade… that was something else entirely. It didn't look human or elvhen. It looked like its own being, floating with a midsection: no legs at all. A sort of mist seemed to make up its lower body, its arm long and lanky like any elf, but its face and chest full like a human's. It had a blue misty complexion, a face full of emotion, one that was reflected in the very body of the spirit. I could feel the spirit's presence on our plane, like it felt like it belonged. I could almost see myself standing up and meeting the spirit, talking to it. I wanted to know what it has seen… how this world looked through their eyes.

As I sat there, eyeing the spirit, I saw her and Solas share a moment. She touched Solas' face gently, as if speaking kind words to him. The two shared a small kiss before she started to vanish. Solas held her hands gently and they stared longingly at each other as the spirit dissipated. "Goodbye, _Elgaras_."

 _"Dareth Shiral, ma emma sa'lath."_ She replied back before disappearing altogether.

Solas glanced at the empty spot that used to be the spirit. His eyes were deep, definitely thinking of all the times he had with his old friend, whoever she was. He stayed like that for a few seconds before glancing at me. Solas nodded, looking at me as if for the first time. " _Serannas, mir felas'falon_."

 _Felas'falon_? I'm his… slow friend? I'm not sure if that's an insult on my intelligence or a somewhat endearing term for a growing friendship that is being hard-fought. He's non-Dalish, so I'm guessing an insult. No… then he would have called me _elvhen'alas_. So… endearing compliment? Hopefully? Did I even want that? Friends with a non-Dalish twit? Honestly, I just wanted to go home. I want to climb into my _aravel_ , close my eyes, drink some wine, and pass the fuck out. But before I can do any of that, I have to deal with what remains of this Breach. If I don't close it, this stupid thing in my left hand is going to kill me either way.

I glanced up at the rift that was now slowly dissipating. Without the demon here to keep it suspended, the rift was slowly beginning to collapse on itself. And as the last bit of rift finally imploded, restoring the air around us to a normal state, the giant tunnel of green energy leading up to the Breach was suddenly closing, hitting the massive Breach. The energy cyclone leading up to the Breach quickly started breaking apart, moving like its own lightning bolt. Once it hit the very top of the Breach, there was a resounding implosion leading to another shockwave through the sky. I could see the incoming shockwave and attempted to move someplace safe. I was surrounded by bloody limbs and general gory entrails. And dull round rocks just jutted enough out of the ground that if I was to suddenly be slammed against them, I would lose all consciousness. It would not be a good idea to be standing here when a massive force would soon collide with my face.

I tried to move but my left hand exploded in pain, throwing my already alarmed mind into a frenzy as my vision blackened. I guess the force that hit the Breach was affecting my mark as well. And it was hitting me hard. In my delirious state, I was slammed hard by the incoming shockwave, slamming me against the jutted rocks, just hard enough that I couldn't fight the inevitable passing out. The last thing I heard was a sickening _smack_ as I hit the nearest smooth bulgy rock with the soft part of my skull. Well… _fenedhis._

…

The soft feeling of a mattress… I think. Never slept on one before. Whatever I'm sleeping on, it's soft, warm, makes a squeaky sound when I bounce my butt on it. I like it, whatever it is. Warm blankets pulled up to my neck, hugging me in a nice warm embrace. The room was chilled, just enough that I was reminded of home.

As I started coming to, my body fought waking up. It really did. I was in a warm soft bed… comforted from the rest of life by the protection of my anti-social life sheets and bedding. This was my safe place, and I never wanted to leave it. I wonder… could I just forget the past few days and just… stay here in the bed until I die? Let Cassandra kill me in this bed. I would have it no other way.

Wait…

Oh… fuck. That's right!

I snapped my eyes open, throwing myself up. I was indeed in a room, a small housing place all by itself. There was a fireplace in the corner of the room, a small stoked fire warming the room. I could hear the crackling of the firewood, a fresh one just recently added. The entire room was empty, I was the only person in this room. I'm alive so… I guess I'm safe for right now. I pushed the sheets away, revealing me without my clothes. My chest and stomach were wrapped in a tight bandage, and I could see blood splotches where I took that sword wound from earlier. I guess that opened up when I hit the ground, or was that a new one? Why didn't they just shove a health potion in my mouth to avoid this whole bandage scene?

I struggled to push myself out of the bed, my wound giving me little comfort as I pushed myself up. I could see some simple clothes waiting for me folded up on the nightstand. I reached out for the clothes. There was a simple button-up silk dress shirt, way classier than anything I would normally wear, and a pair of journeying pants. Ok… I'm cool with the pants. The shirt though… I'll probably have to get a new one eventually. I put the clothes on, surprising at how well they fit me.

I heard the door push open. I looked to the door to see an elf about my size walk in, carrying what looked like a basket of elf root and bandage cloth. She was about the same build and size as me, had no visible vallasin adorning her face, making her an incorrect human elf, and as soon as she locked eyes with me, her face blushed over. She dropped her basket. "Oh… you're awake."

I turned to face her. "Yes, I am. Care to tell me what's going on? What happened to the Breach?"

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dramatically fell to her knees, splaying her hands out in front of her like she was worshiping a god or something like that. Or maybe a golden halla. "I'm sorry, milady. I meant no disrespect. I'm but a humble servant girl."

"Wha-?"

"Please feel free to punish me to your heart's content." She continued, stuttering, her face turning bright red as she continued pleading with me.

My eyes deadpanned. "Yeah… no. We're going to skip over this part." I limped away from her. "Just… tell me what's going on."

The girl kept her face at the ground, smiling. "You've been out for three days, milady. I've been taking care of you. Treating your wounds." Well, that's nice of her. Still non-Dalish though. She probably healed me wrong.

"What happened to the Breach?" Please tell me it's gone. I glanced at my left hand, which had a small glow to it… but it didn't hurt. It was like a quiet pulsing… but not hurtful anymore.

"It's stopped growing, milady. Just like the mark on your hand. Solas said it's safe now. You're no longer in danger of dying from it." Well, good. Now, I can be killed by the shems that believed I caused the Breach in the first place. What a great tradeoff. I save their lives; I get blamed; they kill me; and they live happily ever after. Just like every human story ever.

"Lady Cassandra wants to see you immediately, milady. She told me, send you to the chantry… it's urgent. You must go, immediately. That's what she said." The elf girl started backing out of the room, still on her hands and knees. "Please take care, milady. To the chantry… that's what she said." She backed herself out of the room, leaving me more confused than anything else. What the heck was going on? Obviously… I'm wearing that girl's clothes, and I'm guessing she was the one that's been dressing my wounds. So, she's a healer? And she bowed to me like I was an elvhen god. Well, I am Dalish so... I guess I am to someone like her.

I walked over to the door, the one the girl backed out of. When I pushed it open, I could see a horde of people waiting outside it. People were looking at me, scanning me up and down. I'm really glad I decided to put on pants before walking to the door. Were they all here to see my execution? Then again… why bother stitching me up and giving me fancy enough clothes that would serve no use on a dead elf? Or any elf for that matter?

Remember how I said _inan_ was about reading eyes? Well, as I stood there in the doorway, I was doing the very thing with everyone forming around the house I was sleeping in. Guards were lined up around the horde of people. No weapons were unsheathed. Everyone was just… watching me. Their eyes were filled with wonder, hope… inspiration. Indigestion in one of the guy's eyes, and… arousal in some dwarf's? Um… eww. I'm totally not in to dwarves. Or anyone really. I miss Elgarlen.

"Is that her?" Some woman whispered to another person. "The Herald of Andraste?" Um… who? Andraste? Never heard of him.

I started carefully making my way through the crowd, looking at everyone as I slowly started making my way through the town. Guards were motioning me towards the castle, pointing the way for me to travel. I could see that the gate was sealed up tight, guarded as well. Well… I guess there's no point in trying to run. The guards standing everywhere would only catch me. As I looked to the gates, two guards walked in front of the gates, crossing their arms as they glared at me. Two guards formed up behind me, execution march style. Great… I know exactly where this is heading.

I tried my best to stand as straight up as possible; I'm wearing a really nice silk shirt after all. Might as well try to look as regal as possible, as innocent as possible, as I march to my probable death. No doubt this is where I was heading. I mean… why else would everyone be outside waiting for me? Why else would the gate be locked? Why else would Cassandra be waiting for me? Why else would there be guards escorting me to the chantry?

I started walking on, and as I was, people were whispering around me, asking each other if I was 'the one'. Yeah… I'm the one. The one about to die. The march up to the chantry was humiliating. I had humans looking at me with their small and fearful eyes. I say small and fearful because most elves have larger, wider eyes. Humans say what I have are bug eyes. I don't get it, it's not like they're compounded or anything like that. And their ears… so… round and not pointy. How do they function? I want to touch them, caress their roundness. Are they soft? I really want to know. Maybe Cassandra or Leliana will let me touch theirs.

I was brought back to the present as I found myself tripping on the staircase leading up to the chantry. I was so caught staring at this guy's round ears that he covered his ears and shanked away in shame. Huh… weird.

I turned back to the chantry, clearing my throat as I walked up the stairs. The entire village followed behind me, watching me enter the chantry. I paused by the door, looking at the guards. They gestured me to open the door, to willingly push myself to my death, I guess. Fucking hate humans. Even with their perfectly round ears and button noses… and small squinty eyes. And actual body definition.

I pushed the doors open, forcing myself to clear my mind of all images of Cassandra leaping out at me with her sword, striking my beautiful silken shirt. Why did they give me such a beautiful shirt if it was just going to be ruined? Oh no… were they planning on disrobing me before publicly executing me? Flogging? OH crap, this was worse than I thought. They were letting me experience pleasant clothing for perhaps the last time in my life before publicly destroying me! I couldn't let this happen.

I stopped at the door, my hand still resting on it. I didn't want to go through with this. I glanced up at the mountain we ventured up to. The giant Breach was still there, still… hovering in the skyline. It didn't look as menacing as it did last time, just a large rotating portal to the underworld floating in our skyline is all. If it weren't for the whole… spewing death and destruction, it would be a beautiful thing. And to be honest… without that large beam leading up to it, I didn't see all that death and destruction from earlier. Maybe it's…. normal? I have no idea if normal even qualifies anymore.

"Just go in already!" A guard screamed.

My face flushed over. I didn't turn back to glare at the human, but I did push myself into the chantry. There was no waiting Cassandra, no waiting guard unit to grapple me to the ground, drag me to the headsman block. Nothing like that. Just… an empty reception hall.

Standing there like an idiot, I wasn't paying attention to the closing door behind me. When the door slammed shut, I nearly jumped out of my silken shirt. I snapped around, seeing the door shut behind me... and I continued to stand there. Our heroine, ladies and gentlemen. Standing in an empty hallway, scared by a shutting door… on the verge on an execution. Surely this could not get any weirder.

 _"mumble, mumble, something, mumble, mumble."_ I heard someone mumbling on the other side of a door further into the chantry. I quietly and effectively did my rogue sneaking thing. I started carefully walking through the chantry, keeping an eye out for anyone who might jump out and kill me. If it wasn't for the fact that Cassandra wanted to see me so badly, I would have felt a little safer, but it was _exactly_ the fact that Cassandra wanted to see me that I was worried.

I drew closer to the door, and those mumbles started to take new form. "You were there, you saw it. She managed to stabilize the Breach." Leliana said with some certainty.

"That proves nothing; in fact, it only proves that she is the reason for the Breach's existence. She can control it, open and close rifts as she sees fit, walk through the Fade, and even when it's demanded of her… she can't close the very thing that will destroy our world? No, she's guilty; I see it no other way." That was the priest guy that wanted to send me to jail. I never really focused on him, but he was at that forward camp with Leliana. He made a move to put me in chains, and send me to Val Royeaux to be executed by the Chantry. I think his name was Roderick; he was the Head Chancellor of the Chantry or something like that.

I decided it was now or never. I knocked on the door, saying, "Um… you wanted to see me?"

The door flew open, Cassandra on the other side. "You're awake!" She looked me up and down. "You look better than expected. You took quite the hit."

Chancellor Roderick pointed his stubby finger at me. "Chain her! I want her ready for the trip back to Val Royeaux!"

Two guards started to react, reaching for their weapons. I knew it! I walked right to my fucking death!

"Disregard that." Cassandra said with a sigh. And just like that, the guards stopped reaching for their swords. "And leave us." The guards bowed to Cassandra, turned for the door, and walked right behind me, closing the door behind them. Um… I'm confused now.

Chancellor Roderick looked just as confused. "You dare ignore an order from-"

Cassandra gave Roderick a wicked glance. "The Breach is stable… but it is still a treat." Oh… I guess that makes me still valuable then. "I will not ignore it." So, they literally can't kill me until that Breach is gone, otherwise they lose their ace. In more ways than one!

"Well, I closed that rift, like I was told to so…" I shrugged. "Not my fault it's still up there. Last I checked, I've been out cold for the past… what, three days?"

Cassandra nodded. "That much is true."

Chancellor Roderick crossed his arms. "The Breach remains… and so does that mark. If we destroy your mark, it should destroy the Breach. They've been connected this entire time."

"The only way to do that is to kill her." Solas called from the doorway, leaning against the door frame.

"Which is why she needs to be executed." Chancellor nodded.

Solas shook his head. "This theory of yours… 'destroy the mark, destroy the Breach' is unfounded, untested, and to be blunt… stupid. You would risk destroying the one person in the whole world that has a connection to the Breach. Destroying the mark could have catastrophic results; it could cause the Breach to explode, becoming unstable again… it might encompass the whole world… teleport us all to the Fade. It might close, like you suspect, but that's a 30 against 70 on those chances. My money would be on the Breach becoming unstable, encompassing the world… and killing us all." He looked at me, nodding. "No, I feel that our little friend here is the only one that can save our planet now."

Chancellor Roderick rubbed the back of his head. "Andraste, save us."

"We do have other matters as well." Leliana said. "The Breach is stable for now, but… someone _did_ create it. It might not have been Ellana like we thought, but someone was responsible for the explosion at the Conclave… as well as the murder of the Most Divine Justinia. We need to follow up on whatever reports we can get; find who's responsible… and kill them."

Cassandra nodded. "That is true. Something does not feel right about this. Who would benefit from destroying the Conclave?"

Leliana shrugged. "I do not know, but they had to be at the Conclave as guests. Perhaps they had allies in the Conclave. And it was someone the Most Divine did not suspect. Perhaps they died at the Conclave… or have allies who yet draw breath? An ally of hers perhaps?" She glared at Chancellor Roderick.

Chancellor Roderick pointed at himself. "I… You think I'm a suspect?"

Leliana was barely containing her fangs. "You… and many others."

He pointed to me. "But not her? Not the one that walked out of the Fade? Not the one that lived through the explosion?"

Cassandra slammed her fist on the table. "We went over this already! I was at the temple! I saw the visions! I saw Divine Justinia call out to her for help!"

"So, the Divine called out to her… are we just going to _ignore_ the mark on her hand? Where did _that_ come from? How did she _get_ it? Is it supposed to be a coincidence?"

I was getting so tired of everyone talking about me like I wasn't even here. Right as I was about to say something, Cassandra shook her head. "Not coincidence… providence. The Maker sent her to us in our time of need, wielding what she needs to help us close the Breach. It's the only thing that makes sense." Oh right… religious person. Of course she'd think this was the work of her god. Oh well… I would think it was from June or something so… I guess it holds up.

I held up my hands. "Wait, wait. You think… I'm what now?"

"The Harold of Andraste." Leliana stated. "People saw you walk out of the Fade, a woman behind you. And you've managed to stop the Breach's advancement with a mark on your hand. To the people… you've become a symbol. A message from Andraste. You're here to save us… and that's what the people will rally behind."

"Rally behind?" Both Roderick and I said at the same time, in the same tone of disbelief.

Cassandra turned around, reaching for a large dusty book on the table behind her. She picked it up, turned back around, and slammed it hard against the table we were all gathered around. She pointed at the book, staring at Chancellor Roderick. "You know what this is?" He stared at it for a few seconds, and Cassandra continued like he answered. "From the Divine. Granting us the authority to act. As of this moment… not anywhere sooner than this… certainly not back in Kirkwall, I declare the Inquisition reborn!"

Cassandra started walking over to Chancellor Roderick, who was now backing away from her. I watched as Cassandra pushed out her chest, poking her fingers at him, forcing him to back away from her as she advanced at him. "We will close the Breach; we will find all those responsible; and we will restore order! With… or without your approval."

Roderick stood there for a few seconds, looking around at us. His eyes settled on mine, and I saw a lot of malice behind them. He was not happy with me at all. He finally jerked his head away from Cassandra, backing away from her and heading for the door.

When he was gone, Leliana walked over to the book. "The Divine's directive? Restore the Inquisition of old… restore order out of chaos?" She looked over to Cassandra. "With what army? We aren't ready. We have no leader, no numbers… and no Chantry support."

Cassandra nodded. "It does not matter. We must act." She glanced at me. "With you at our side."

"Me? Why me?" Like I even had to ask. And Cassandra certainly didn't feel like spelling out the obvious. "Well, ok, I know why. My mark. But… still why?"

Cassandra's hard eyes softened for a second. "I will admit… when I first met you, I was a bit harsh. You have to understand my reasons though. Surely, you understand the circumstances? You were the only lead we had, and the only survivor. You had a thing that matched the Breach… and until recently, we believed you might have been the cause of the Divine's death. The visions have shown me your innocence. Your mark is proof of providence. The Maker walks with you, even if _you_ don't believe in him."

I was about to combat that, but Solas was already walking into the room, adding his own voice. "And whether you want to believe it or not… the Breach will likely become unstable as time progresses. And your mark will also begin to grow. Until you can no longer bear its weight… and you will die. Not to mention many in the chantry still believe you are the killer of the Divine. A target. If you leave Haven, you might be hunted. Your clan extinguished."

Cassandra nodded. "So, join us. If you stay here with us, we can protect you. We can work together to build an army, find a way to close the Breach once and for all, and find out how to remove that mark of yours."

So… this was my option then? I guess it made sense. I would have Cassandra's help in getting rid of this thing. And I wasn't going to be killed today. That's a really good thing. Eh, why not? I stuck out my hand. "Well, I certainly did not expect this when I woke up this morning."

Leliana shook her head. "Neither did I."

Cassandra smiled. "Welcome to the Inquisition, Ellana. Seeing how you were residing in Reinan's house, we can give you a bed in the chantry or… we could move a small cot into her house, and you could room with her."

"Reinan… was she the elf that was treating my wounds?"

Cassandra nodded. "Yes. She's an apostate."

"She's been training under me." Solas said from beside me. "She helped me heal your wounds."

Just thinking about how badly my side hurts… I'm guessing she's not that good.

"You should continue staying with her until we can get you healed at any rate." Solas continued. "And… well, I wanted to wait to say this, but… while you were out, Reinan and I noticed something. Your mark has a connection to the Fade." Ok… "And that connection to the Fade has… awoken some abilities in you. We've contained it for now, but while you were sleeping, you may have started a fire in your bed."

Oh… oh. Oh, this is going somewhere entirely different.

"You have become a mage." Oh… I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm a mage now? "And, if you do not train, you might become a danger to yourself and anyone around you. So, I talked it over with Cassandra."

"You will begin training with Solas immediately." Cassandra replied. "This is not a request."

Um… I really do not know what to think of this. I'm thrilled but at the same time… no.. no, I'm just really excited. I have to appear calm though. "So… when do we begin?" My voice nearly broke, cracking slightly. I managed to keep my feet on the ground though, my arms folded behind my back, my hands clasped together to keep me from throwing them up to the ceiling in delight.

He motioned me to follow him. "Right now. We have a week to train while Cassandra and Leliana start getting their Inquisition ready." My hands want so badly to reach for the sky, declare my excitement. Must... be... sullen...

Leliana nodded. "We will be busy recruiting some people to help us. In the meantime, you should train with Reinan and Solas. If you need other support, there are a few other apostates here in town that might be willing to help you train." More mages?! So hard... containing... sullenness...

Cassandra glared at me. "And try to keep the magick under control. I don't care much for this plan of Solas, but he is right. You will become a threat if you are not trained, and I'd rather have you become a mage than kill yourself as your magick grows."

Well… now I'm scared. Fuck. She took a good thing, and then threw it in my face. "Um… I have a request."

Cassandra's eyebrows snapped up. "What?"

"I have my own teacher. From my clan. My keeper." If he came down here, then… that'd be great. Learn Dalish magick. Not… Solas magick. Even though what I've seen from him is amazing. At least I'll be able to learn Dalish magick as well as Solas' magick. This might be a good thing. Well-rounded magick I can bring back to the clan. I'll be like a hero!

"It will take time, but I will contact your clan with your request." Leliana replied. "In the meantime, you should train with Solas. Time is of the essence."

I looked over to Solas. "Ok then. I'm ready."

He smirked, nodding. "I'm glad you so willingly accepted. I thought I might have to force you, you being an intolerant Dalish girl and all. I never intended for this to happen, but… I am glad. You seem… excited by this development. Most people treat magick like a curse… yet, you seem very willing to accept it."

"It's been my dream for a long time." One my brother got to live.

Solas smirked. "Well, let's make your dream come true. Meet me outside Haven. There's a nice waterfall right outside." … A what now? "We'll start our training with a six hour meditation in the freezing waterfall." Ah… "Followed by drinking a special herbal mixture that will force your body to convulse in the most unpleasant way possible." Ah-huh. "Followed by a series of tenuous drills meant for breaking down your body until you're just a soul." Great. "And then we'll finish with you cleaning the horse stables." Why?

 _Fenedhis lasa_.

* * *

 **Cearbhail:**

 _I won't be including any translation this chapter, because I pretty much covered it through interaction. I'm sure if you're curious, you can always ask, or look it up yourself. Reinan will become a more prominent character in this story, as will some of the scouts, other mages. I did not like how they would show a character and then... never interact with them. Things will be different for this story. And... I'm sure you know where this is going with Ellana contacting her clan in needing of a tutor in magick. Hehehe...  
_


	5. New Teacher

**Cearbhail:**

 _Today I introduce a new character. Well, you probably know them so... maybe not so new?  
_

* * *

"Close your eyes." Solas whispered into the back of my mind.

And I did as I was told. I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath as I assumed the traditional meditation pose shared among my people. Legs folded, hands on the knees, arms straight, middle finger touched the thumb in a circle. It was the best way to channel our inner mana. It was the best way for us to become one with the Fade.

I heard Solas sigh on the other side of me. "Your form is predictable, one I've seen in many tours of the Dalish tribes. It's not a bad meditation pose for one to take, but it hinders your growth. Instead…" I heard him settle down in front of me. "Try it like this."

I opened my eyes, seeing Solas sitting only a few feet from me. He was resting on his legs, sitting on his feet. His hands were cupped in his lap, his back straight, his neck just as straight.

"Folding your legs muddles your mana, causing buildup. It's fine, in its own way for increasing your overall mana. It takes years for this to manifest in a positive manner, however. For your mana to flow now, for you to come to grasp with your new power… you must draw it from your own well of spirit. A straight path running up, without needing muddling is the fastest route to learning how to tap into your mana. The cupped hands hovers just outside of your hara, the Sea of Mana. It is through this pose that you will draw upon your mana to your hands, to actuate your connection to the Fade. It is through this pose that you will learn how to be magic."

I sighed as I adjusted myself to match his pose. I wouldn't argue with him over the semantics of traditional meditation postures. I agreed to let him teach me magic _his_ way. At least until my Dalish teacher can come by to visit me. Varric said he 'knows a girl' who can help me with my magic. She's supposed to be here by the end of the week.

"Now that you have a proper posture, take a deep breath, focus on what's around you. Here, in the Fade, you can learn to tap into your potential faster than in the physical realm. Tell me… what do you feel?"

I sat there, breathing. I felt a pulse of light inside me. "Light…" And just as fast as that light appeared, it vanished into a fiery mess. Images of twisted faces started to appear, trying to find their way to me. Promises of power were whispered to me.

I snapped my eyes open, throwing myself forward.

Solas just sat there, watching me. "What did you see?"

"Demons. So many fucking demons." I said through labored breaths.

"Why are you breathing so hard? We're in the Fade. You're Dreaming. Do you think that's _air_ you're breathing?" Solas said with a light laugh.

I came to a pause as I sat there. I honestly couldn't tell if I was breathing or not. I've never been in the Fade before. I had no idea what was actually going on, or if anything here was real or fake. I've dreamed before but… I've never Dreamed. I've never done this sort of thing with a Dreamer before. I never knew Solas could visit me in my sleep, control my dream, and help me train.

Solas floated off his legs, levitating in the air as he straightened his legs down. It was such a big thing for me to float myself up to a standing posture, but Solas made it look like it was nothing. He sighed as he walked around me. "I have studied with the Dalish… for a time anyway. I have learned what they grasp at, what they hope to obtain from the ancestors. What they do retain is an incomplete lie. Your tribesmen hinder themselves to pretending to know this world or how it came to be. Your own past forgotten by the time Tevinter claimed your people."

"They're your people too." I replied.

Solas shook his head, looking at me. "The Elves I see today are NOTHING like my people. My people are long forgotten, lost to the Fade. I am alone."

"Alone?" Did he belong to a Dalish tribe that was killed off or something? "So, what happened to you? Were you Alienage… Dalish?"

Solas sighed, looking back at me. "I am neither Dalish or Alienage. My tribe belonged to a much older sect. We held secrets not even the Dalish could ever hope to recover. I am a Dreamer. I have spent my early years recollecting everything I could possibly hope to retain. I have seen events eons in the making. I have scoured the very creation of this world. The Dawning of the Fade. The ancestors the very Dalish wish to remember. I have seen how they lived… how they fell."

So… he's seen everything then? He knows… truly what my tribe wishes to reclaim? What ALL Dalish wish to reclaim?

"The fuck?" I pushed myself to my feet. "You know… _everything_? Wha… How? Why the hell haven't you shared that information with our Keepers?"

Solas looked me in the eye. "I have tried. On several occasions. I was treated with heresy speeches. Your Dalish clans believe very heavily that the Fade is something to be feared, ignored. Demons and spirits are nothing but unnatural forces, out of balance with the world as it is. Even magic is to be feared to some degree. Tell me… how many mages live in your clan?"

I started to shrug. "Just my brother and our Keeper."

Solas nodded. "How many children will your precious Keepers force to leave the clan because they already have two mages? If you had manifested your talents, would your brother be forced to leave the clan when he began to show _his_ potential? Would your parents even object to this? Your precious Dalish clans fear what _is_ natural in our world. Your clans believe in the material, and that anything outside the material is foreign, not belonging to this world. The mundane world, and the esoteric. And this may be the case, but where the truth deviates from the claim that the esoteric is unnatural, the blunt truth is the reverse. The Esoteric is the natural, and the physical is a barrier. They are two halves of the same whole, one negating the other. To a Dreamer, the physical realm is the falsehood. And to one who has seen the very creation of our world… I would agree with what Dreamers have discovered. This world began as something between the Fade and reality, and then it spilled out into physicality and esoteric. The rumors of elven immortality are true… we were forever living. It was the creation of the physical world that ruined it for our race. Until that time, we would live forever."

So… we _did_ live forever then. This was shaking up my world in ways I did not know it could. My hands were shaking just thinking of what I could learn from Solas. What I could bring back to my clan once all this was over. I had to learn everything Solas knew… even if what he knew was flawed. I had to be careful that whatever he was teaching me was alternate truths. And by alternate truths I mean statements that parallel 'the sky isn't blue, it's every color but because our sky filters out so many of the colors, all we can really see is blue.' Ok… that's not a good example. That's actually the kind of truth I like to know. So… the other way around?

Or, something like this. Someone cuts a fish open and serves it to a patron for lunch. The person takes a bite of the fish and learning that… the fish isn't cooked. He demands a refund from the chef. The chef states: "I never said it was _cooked_ fish." Those kind of alternate truths. Where you can be misled by information by a turn of phrase. Like a man claiming another man's father is dead, and then that other man finding out his arch nemesis is actually his father. He goes back to the first man demanding an answer. The first man responds: "When your father turned evil, he basically killed his good side. Therefore… he did kill himself and in doing so… became a new person. So… I'm right, according to alternate truths."

Ugh… I hate misleading truths. Or incomplete truths. I just want facts. Pure… unaltered… facts.

Solas smirked. "You seem to think that there is only one side to things." He bent down, picking up a flower that miraculously sprouted from the ground. "Here in the Fade… in all my dealings with the spirits, in all the history I have silently watched, I have learned but _one_ _truth_. There is no set truth, and there is always a lie to cover any truth up. There are certainties in our world. There is gravity; there is air. There is matter. You can place you hand upon the trunk of a tree and know that it exists because you can see it… you can feel it. You know it's real because you can touch and see it in front of you. If I were to tell you that the tree can see you too… to know you exist… would you believe _that_ truth? If I told you that the tree can see things you cannot… feel things you cannot, experience the world in much different senses than you can comprehend, would you believe me? Would that be _truth_ to you? Or would your mind, so muddled with 'rules' of what this world should be, shut me out, call me a heretic because of what is considered the norm? Would you shun my views for more preferable ones like what the Chantry spouts? Of what your Keepers promise?"

I only glanced down to the ground. He was throwing a lot of words around, but right then… I couldn't begin to understand what he was trying to teach me. He seemed to think that I had some predetermined view of the world. And that's probably true. I see a tree… and that's a tree. Have I ever considered that a tree might be more than a tree? That it was looking at me the same way I looked at it? Our Keepers try to teach us that all nature is alive and aware of the world around it. If that were the case, then… yes, I could believe the tree was watching me. I could believe in that truth. Even so… I'm sure there is a lot I could not consider real. Things I did not even think to consider. Is air sentient? Is water sentient? Oh my _Evanuris_ … This was starting to make my head hurt.

Solas continued on like I wasn't overthinking things. "The Dalish, from what I can tell, treat magic with some kind of blind respect and fear. They are very careful about what they teach their students, trying their best to preserve what knowledge they think they remember. And with each generation, more and more knowledge of magic is lost… forgotten. Then they pretend to find new magic formulas… often forgetting, or allowing themselves to forget, the true essence of magic. For the Dalish tribes, magic is not made to serve man… it's just… there. Part of who they are, but in the wrong hands, still very, very deadly. That is why they shun so many of their own children, fearing the inevitable fall to abominations. Demons are the boogeymen of the elven race, and any mage thought to be close to contacting one is instantly shunned. And without Templars to watch for falling students, as even one abomination among the keepers or their apprentices could easily wipe out a whole clan… magic is more often than not… feared in the utmost respectful way.

"The humans that run the Circle have less dubious thoughts about magic however. Since they can practice their magic with the watchful eyes of their enslaved murderers watching their every move, it is easier for mages to formulate their findings of magic. And you will find that humans, with all their time to understand magic, have broken it down to four simple classes: Entropy, Creation, Spirit, and Primal. The arts of destroying things, creating things, things that exist in the esoteric, and things that exist in the mundane. Simple little concepts, but every spell they come up with fall under one of these broad classes. With that in mind, what I will teach you will probably at some point fall into one of these four classical systems of thought. I would not bother you with this knowledge if I did not expect you to find some light reading on the subject, perhaps look up some spell tomes for you to read."

I started reaching for my temples, rubbing them as I looked up at Solas. "What's the point of telling me all this?"

Solas smirked as he walked away, folding his hands on the small of his back as he confidently walked away. "You are a mage now. Part of what makes a good mage is their ability to accept impossibilities into their mindset. In order to invoke fire, one must realize that fire can form from _nothing_. You must learn to Dream with your eyes open. But not just Dream, but bring the Dream to life. Manifest the esoteric into mundane by realizing that the two are more interwoven than the Chantry allows you to believe. 'Magic was made to serve man.' You will find no better example of an alternate truth than that. Magic was made long before man existed, but to the minds of mortal men… there was no time before they existed. There could be no recorded history before them, for no one was there to witness it. So for them… there could only be magic after men appeared. And it had to serve them, because they appear to be the only ones that can touch it. Only a Dreamer knows for certain if such a claim is founded in reality. And even then… the Fade shows us a lot of things, but for each thing it shows us, it will show us the opposite. The Fade reflects how we view reality. It molds to fit to our ideal of how the world works. Only a Dreamer can see the Fade for how it truly is. Only people like me can view the truths of the world… and still… you find that for every truth, there are a thousand other truths that follow it. Surely… only one can be right… but the Fade would never tell you that. All possibilities are true… and all are false. To sypher through what is real and what is not real is a fatal mistake of every Dreamer. So… if you wish to Dream, you must realize that the truth is often more convoluted than what we allow ourselves to believe. And the same is true for mages. Magic is magic. It's not made to serve anyone, but it can be used by anyone willing to put in the effort to learn."

Ok, so that's why he was going through all this effort to tell me about stuff I otherwise would never even think about. "Ok…" I started setting myself back into my meditation pose. "So, what's step one?"

Solas sighed in his ever so melancholy way. "Have you even been paying attention? There is no 'step one.' Everything depends on you. We must first train you to realize your own potential. You have already begun 'step one' by closing those Rifts. You've touched the Fade even if you don't realize it. You've been a mage this whole time without grasping what's in front of you. So, I have a plan. It's a shaky one though, and through my studies of the Fade, I find that the hedge witches of the Thousand Waterfalls have a great way of preparing their young for working magic. Remember how I told you that your first day would be meditation under a waterfall? Did I ever tell you why? The waterfall I have selected for you is cold… near the point of freezing. You will be tempted to get up and run. You'll be tempted to make the cold stop. In nothing but the freezing waters, you will have to accept one reality: you will freeze if you don't find a way for it to end. You will think of ways of warming up. You will think of something… anything to protect yourself. An invisible barrier to protect you from the cold and freezing waters. This is a basic understanding of the known spell: Barrier. Wrap yourself in the spiritual barriers of the Fade, and you'll be protected from the cold and bitter sting of the water falling down upon you. Hold this image as long as you can. You are in the Fade… you can do this indefinitely if you keep the image alive. Doing this will allow you to get a better grasp of how working magic really is. And when you wake, we'll do this in the physical realm. It will not be so easy, but with a better understanding of how it works, you will be better suited for it."

Solas waved his hand around. The environment shifted around us, the very ground vanishing. I was basically kneeling on nothing, but even that felt solid. I felt the bitter sting of freezing water envelop me around my waist and legs. I was kneeling in a pool of semi-deep-freezing water. And just as quickly as that happened, I felt a heavy crash down on me from above. It was freezing, and it enveloped me instantly. Ever jump into cold water before and all the air inside your lungs just stops cold? Everything in me stopped instantly. My brain even shut down.

I wanted to jump up but my body stayed pinned underneath the waterfall as it crashed down on top of me. I've been in cold water my whole life, living in the Free Marches is kind of like living in constant cold weather. Bathing is hard unless your Keeper heats the water for the rest of the clan: which the usually do. Even with all the cold water I've jumped into, I've never felt something this cold. It felt like it was freezing every inch of my being, breaching my body and penetrating my very soul.

It was very instinctual. My mind reacted before the rest of me could. I thought of a protective barrier that surrounded me and it just… happened. There was no hesitation. There was a second of pure shock by the freezing water and then… _poof_ … bright glowing blue shimmering energy enveloping me.

I couldn't believe just how quickly it happened. And right as I determined that it shouldn't have been that easy… _poof_ … it was gone. And the cold water was crashing down right on top of me again.

Rinse and repeat that very idea six or seven more times, all happening with the course of a few seconds… running into minutes… and then finally into hours… and you've seen my training for the whole of my dream. Barriers popping up above me, around me… and other stuff happening… and then as soon as my mind catches up to the rest of me… they disappear mostly because I don't believe I _can_ do this stuff. My spirit and mind were constantly combatting each other for dormancy of my magic abilities. Can you blame me though? This was all new for me. It happened so quickly… so easily… surely this thing that takes years to fully comprehend must take time to develop? I couldn't rationalize it. I couldn't just nod my head and go… yeah, this seems natural. It was a long process. And it went on for six hours or more. I lost track of time. But by the end of the dream, I had drawn the conclusion that I needed to hold onto the image of me holding the barrier. And it stayed. I fought the idea that it didn't exist, because as soon as I did that… the barrier vanished. I rationalized that if I did it before, surely, it's real. And then the barrier would stay. And it would stay until I questioned it.

So, after six hours of this… I could finally keep the thought in my mind that the barrier was part of me. Magic was part of me. And the cold freezing water washed over top of me, deflected away by the barrier protecting me. And I held that thought, that protection, until Solas finally walked over to me. "You've done better than I suspected. For a first timer, you're doing remarkably. So now, it's time for you to…" He leaned forward, touching my chin as he whispered, "Wake up…"

…

My eyes snapped open and I almost flew out of my sheets. It took me a few seconds to figure out that I was awake, but looking around the room was a pretty easy way for me to slowly figure it out. That's not all that helpful though. This was how I woke up to the Fade to begin with. I lay my head down like Solas told me and suddenly… I was jolting awake in the Fade.

Reinan was waking up just like I was. She was not prancing out of her bed though, just opening her eyes, rubbing them as she aroused from her sleep. She stared blankly at the ceiling for a second before settling her eyes on me. "Morning, _lethallan_." She slowly started pushing her covers up, sitting up, yawning. "How did your training with Solas go?"

I stared blankly at the doorway. "Good? I spent six hours meditating under a freezing waterfall."

Reinan nodded, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Lucky. I got to spend six hours lifting mountains and trees." She yawned as she started climbing out of bed. "Want some tea?"

I nodded as I started getting out of bed. "I'll help. I'll make you some of my clan's tea."

She beamed at the suggestion. "Oh! Will you? That would be grand."

Reinan was my roommate. She was living here in Haven with the rest of the Inquisition forces; she originally lived in some backwater village in Ferelden, living in some Alienage. From what she told me, her village was known for its raids from the humans. They would find someone, man or woman, drag them into alleyways and… well… you can figure out the rest. Well, one night, she had to go tend to some hounds that escaped her friend's house and… she ended up in an alleyway with her two friends. Alienage elves never travel alone… ever. Six humans, all guys, cornered Reinan and her friends in the alleyway, no way for them to escape. It was bloody. Reinan was the only survivor. And that's because Solas happened to be in the Alienage at the time. And he was passing by the alleyway, walking with the dog that happened to escape.

When Solas saw Reinan shoved against the alleyway wall, her two friends dead beside her, and six men surrounding her with their dicks out… you can guess what happened to them. Solas destroyed them and freed Reinan. I guess she pledged her life to him, begging him to teach her how to the same magic he used to help her. She wanted to become strong enough to go around and help other elves like her. She's been traveling with Solas for the past two years or so. She had a small infinity for magic but never had the opportunity to advance in it. Solas offered to teach her and she totally went for it. It's been two years but she's a capable mage now, even though her healing is completely asinine. She tries her best, but I'd rather just let Solas treat my wounds. He refuses though. He enjoys watching Reinan try to heal me. He assures me the more practice she gets, the better her healing will perform. So, I grin and bear it.

As for the kind of person she is… I've had two days to understand her now. She's pretty skittish, very shy. I'm guessing that's past experience still haunting her though. And she treats me as the 'Herald of Andraste'. She takes almost everything I say as testimony, even though I told her immediately that I wasn't some herald. When I first heard the term… I honestly thought they thought my name was Harold of Andraste… which I thought was some kingdom or something like that. It took me some time to convince myself that I might be… ugh… thought of as some herald. It disgusts me to think that the humans respect me for… one of their gods. I don't even know who Andraste is.

I pushed the thought away as I started taking some elfroot and crumbling it up. I put the kettle over the already growing fire, lit by Reinan's magic. I went back to the elfroot, pulling out my pouch of useful herbs. I always had a small bottle of honey as well as a small bag of lavender. It might not taste good to humans, but we elves love this shit. A lot better than what Reinan makes her tea out of (dandelions).

I prepared my herbal mix, placing it in a lacy baggie. Reinan hovered around my shoulder the whole time, watching me prepare the mixture. As soon as I looked over my shoulder, she would jump back by about six feet, bowing down to her knees. "I'm not worthy, your grace!" She would cry.

And I would roll my eyes. "I'm not a grace! I'm an Ellana! And I'm not a herald! I'm just a Dalish girl with a magical mark that will ultimately either save or destroy the world." Jeez… when I say it like that.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "Look, Reinan. I want to be your friend. Even if you're not Dalish, I want us to be friends. As far as I know… I'm no holy person. This thing on my hand…" I showed her my glowing hand. "I don't know what it is! But… I haven't seen, spoken to, or have had any contact with anyone by the name of Andraste! So, I'm not her Herald!"

Reinan looked up from her position on the ground. "But… Lady Cassandra said…"

I nodded. "This is the same Cassandra that almost lopped my head off five days ago! She thought I was a murderer! She's quick to judge things, even with little to no evidence to support her claims! So, this whole 'Herald of Andraste' thing… just one of her hastened judgements. So, please… for the sake of Dirthamen… just don't let it be a thing between us. We're both elves… even though I'm Dalish and you're… whatever you call yourselves. I just want to be treated normally."

Reinan slowly picked herself off the ground, brushing off her knees. She quietly cleared her throat as she avoided looking me in the eye. "Umm… ok." She looked at me and then quickly looked away. "I've been meaning to ask… those…" She waved her hand across her face. "markings. Every Dalish person gets them. Do… do they hurt?"

Well, it's better than a lot of other questions I've been asked the past two days. Some included the question 'can I touch your ears?'

I nodded. "Yes, it was very painful. Like… I almost passed out. But I had to stoically sit still, not even flinching as they repetitively stabbed me with an inked pin. I never told anyone this but… I was so high on elfroot that I didn't even feel it. Hehe… I'm not sure our Keeper even knew."

Reinan almost chuckled, hiding behind her hand, hunching her shoulders as she tried to hide it. "That's… pretty clever. Umm… can I… can I touch them?"

 _Mental sigh_ … why am I not surprised?

I shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Reinan slowly made her way up to me, gingerly reaching up to my forehead where I had my hair pulled off to the side. She touched the diamond on my forehead, rubbing her fingers across it, tracing a few of the lines down the side of my brow, down to my cheek.

"They feel… like scars."

"They might as well be." I replied back. "I've never seen anyone have their vallaslin removed."

Reinan nodded. "We had some people who were Dalish living in our alienage. Some of them tried to remove their… what did you call them? Vallaslin?" I nodded. "They normally tattoo something overtop of those markings. Somehow making their markings different from how they looked. Those who do this… and all other elves with the markings… are treated different, even among other elves. Humans will target these elves, making them examples of what the rest of us should be weary of… defying their control over us. Even though…" She looked down. "They won't let the rest of us forget it anyway." She started pulling her hand away. "I'm sorry. I didn't think…I shouldn't have…"

Reinan was nice, a little… weird from time to time, but nice regardless. "No, it's ok. So, I had a question."

Before I could ask, there was a light knock on the door. Reinan jumped away, backing herself into the corner, glancing at me. Man, she's skittish.

I walked over to the door, peaking my eye through the small crack in the door. I could see a heavily tanned, sharply dressed woman with beautiful dark hair waiting on the other side. She was carrying what looked like a clipboard with a checklist on it. Huh… I wonder who this is.

I opened the door, nodding to the woman. "Hello?"

The woman nodded to me. "Ah, you must be…" She checked her checklist. "Ellana Lavellan: The Herald of Andraste." She looked me up and down, muttering something to herself. "We'll need a presentable dress, something… hmm… yellow or light blue. Long auburn hair, fair light skin tone. Blue, definitely a winter, maybe even an autumn? Lean shoulders, simple profile, thin hips… breasts are… nonexistent." Hey! "A nice regal gown would do. Or… perhaps a show of power? Would armor even look good on a dress?" The woman shook her head. "Her markings are a light blue hue, complementing her with a long blue dress might work… if we're trying to impress the Orlesians. Or… perhaps we can showcase her elven side, garter some allegiances through show of her discipline… Oh, Josephine, what are you thinking? Allowing an elf to dress like an elf to impress nobility? What a foolish idea. No, we'll definitely need something regal, but shows her true power, and showcase her as a true herald."

I stood there while the woman muttered to herself. I slowly started shutting the door while the woman just stood there, tapping a quill to her chin. When I had the door completely shut, I heard the woman gasp in excitement.

"Oh! That's it! I know exactly who to call. First Enchanter Vivienne is a wonderful dresser; she'll know how to dress this herald." She knocked on the door. "Worry not, Miss Lavellan. We'll have this matter squared away in a few days. I just need to send for supplies and a consultation. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance." I listened as she quickly started walking away. "Now, I just have to find a way to make sure the fact she's an elf will not cause an exalted march."

When I was sure she was gone, I turned myself back to the kettle, checking on the water. It was definitely ready to be served. I started preparing our cups with the lavender and honey, adding the elfroot to the mixture. And then I carefully lifted the kettle away from the rousing fire and started pouring it into the cups. I let the leaves and whatnot sit in the water until it turned a light purple color, then waved over to Reinan to come join me.

"Is it ready?" She asked as she walked over.

"Should be." I took the cup and took a deep whiff of it. The lavender smell was strong and boy… did it smell great. Very soothing, very relaxing. Glad I offered to make tea.

"We tried to grow lavender in our alienage, but…" She looked down as she took a glass. "Humans thought we didn't deserve any. They knew we liked it, and… we weren't supposed to have good things. So, there was this lavender tax. Too pricey for any of us to actually have any of our own. The mayor of our town allowed guards to raid our houses, taking whatever herbs were did try to grow for ourselves, stating that these herbs were dangerous narcotic substances… and those who chose to grow them were often put in the stocks… or sometimes even hung." Reinan shook her head. "I didn't like it there. If it weren't for Solas… I wouldn't even be…"

"Why not join the Dalish then?"

Reinan shook her head madly. "Oh, no, no, no, no. I could never live with a bunch of cannibals."

…

What?

I held my hand up, trying my best to keep up with her. "Wait… what kind of tales did you hear about the Dalish?"

She started counting on her fingertips. "The Dalish will eat humans and other elves outside their clans. Their blasphemous belief in other gods has caused the Maker to curse them with… diseases. Like deadly rashes that scratch like crazy… especially in the… private areas. They do sick and dark magic… blood magic. They consort with demons in their mad search for a long-forgotten era of their barbaric ancestors. And the lettering on their faces is made from the blood of virgin children raided from royal families. There's also this rumor that there's a whole clan of Dalish elves that turn into… werewolves."

Well… that's a load of halla shit.

I shook my head. "Look, Reinan. You've known me for what… four days now?"

"Awake, only two now." She sipped on her tea.

"Exactly, and I can tell you these facts right now. We _don't_ eat people. We don't even eat halla. We'll eat other meats though… rams, druffalo, nugs. You know… plain meaty food. We _do_ worship our gods, but we're not cursed. We certainly don't have diseases… nor scratchy rashes. There are no such things as werewolves. And… most importantly, there is no true Dalish person who would ever resort to that disgusting blood magic."

There was a light rap on my door, breaking me away from my thought process. "Huh, I wonder if it's that weird woman again."

I walked over to the door, peering through the smack crack in the door. There was another Dalish woman standing on the other side. She was dressed in what looked like proper garments. She had a long staff on her back. Varric was standing on the other side of her. He saw me looking through the crack, waving to me.

"Hey there, kitten. I want you to meet my friend, Daisy."

I quickly pulled the door open. "Oh, sorry." I stuck out my hand. " _Andaran atish'an_." I bowed my head to the slightly older elvhen woman.

The older elvhen woman nodded her head graciously to me. " _Ma serannas, lethallan._ " She walked into my house, looking around, settling her eyes on Reinan. She nodded to Reinan. "Morning, _da'len_." She looked around the room a few more times, noticing the cup of tea sitting on the nightstand. She quickly went for it, saying, "Ooh, lavender. I haven't had any like this since I lived in Kirkwall."

Varric entered behind Daisy, nodding to me. "Daisy here is a friend from Kirkwall. She was the First in Sabrae's clan. Now… she's the Keeper."

"Yes, I am." She said after taking a long sip. "However, my clan is all dead so…" She shrugged. She stuck out her hand for me to shake. "Don't listen too much to Varric, he's a long-winded one. Name's Merrill Hawke. Varric said you need someone to teach you magic?"

I nodded, sticking out my hand. " _Dalish_ magic. I'm currently learning from a hedge mage by the name Solas."

Merrill's mouth twitched a bit as she heard the name. "Prideful, is he? I would very much enjoy talking to this hedge mage, if you don't mind. Until then, continue enjoying your tea. Now…" She turned her head quickly, her many rabbit tails in her hair fluttering around madly as she did so. "You! You seem like a powerful mage in the making. I noticed your aura as soon as I walked through the door. Will I be teaching you too?"

Reinan was quick to jump back, cowering away from Merrill. "Um…" She looked around. "maybe?"

Merrill stood like that for a few seconds before nodding. "Good enough for me." She looked back over to me. "Good girl, little…jumpy, but I can work with that. You too, with your cute little face." She pinched my cheeks. "You _do_ look like a kitten. Too bad, you don't have a Mythal _vallaslin_ , otherwise I think you'd look pretty cute, not to mention it would add something close to whiskers right below your eyes. That would look cute. Every think about changing your vallaslin? I've done it twice now! But your June _vallaslin_ is pretty cute too. Love the light blue ink you used. See mine? I have Elgar'nan's _vallaslin_. Well, anyway. I suppose that's not what matters right now though. What matters is your training. So, to start off, we'll begin by throwing you under a waterfall. Good ol' nature will help you learn Dalish magic faster."

Man, she was a talky one. Reminds me a lot of Solas, only… happier? Not so grumpy? Her training methods were quickly reminding me of what Solas just had be doing for the past six hours. "Um… ok." Maybe Solas' magic training isn't that different from standard Dalish methods after all.

"Right!" Merrill said, smiling. "We'll begin your training shortly. But first, I'm hungry. You're Dalish, I bet you have some idea of where to get some real food. Any ram nearby?"

Reinan nodded her head. "Yes, ma'am. In the woods, out that way…" She pointed off towards the south. "There are plenty of ram… druffalo even."

Merrill nodded. "Right, sounds like a good plan then. You two sit here, drink your tea… Varric and I have some catching up to do." She walked over to Varric. "Feel like a good hunt?"

"With you? Sure, why not." Varric replied with a shrug. As they walked out the door, I could hear Varric say, "So, how's the wife?"

"Who, Mariam? She's fine, a little bored. Searching for some Wardens though. I try to keep her mind off things by swinging on the chandelier but I guess that novelty has worn off. Broke it last month. Can't imagine what could be making the thing so weak that it would suddenly snap free like that though."

Varric laughed as they got further away. "You never change, Daisy."

"Well, that's wrong. Went to the market last week, didn't need my string! Got home just fine."

* * *

 **Cearbhail:**

 _So, Merrill's involved. And Hawke will be too. I mean... i know in Inquisition he/she made a cameo and was involved in an arc, but other than that, they just vanish from the story entirely. Not in this story. Mariam Hawke will be joining this Inquisition, as will other characters from the two other games that I know about. Expect a lot of cameos and whatnots. Especially quests.  
_


	6. Council of Non-Draste

**Cearbhail:**

 _So, we're finally getting the ball on the roll. About time, right?  
_

* * *

"She's come a long way in such a short time." I heard Merrill saying behind me. She was a big help the past week, helping me to get to where I was. Even with Solas' help, and he was a great teacher, just having Merrill around to explain some things that I didn't comprehend, I was able to progress faster than I was when I started.

"To be able to stop a waterfall and contain it… simply… slightly below standard." Solas confirmed in his usual way of half-assing a compliment.

Yeah, I was holding up a waterfall. We're in the Fade, but still… that's some magick right there. In the waking world, I might not be as strong, but I'm able to summon fire now! I'm able to shoot it and stuff. As well as a close-range lightning bolt thingy. It loses its arc after I launch it, because I'm not able to control is pathway, so I mostly get in close as my stabby stabby rogue hunter profile and then launch my lightning through my palm as a palm thrust. So, I'm actually not so bad as a mage now. I'm almost as good as Reinan, even though she can actually control her magick. Having the glowing mark on my hand that connects me to the Fade definitely gives me a slight edge on using magick. It's almost natural to me now. And just being here, in the Fade, practicing magick, is helping me understand the mark on my hand. Solas was right… training in magick is helping me understand how to use this mark better. I just hope I'm ready to do what needs to be done. I hope I can use this mark to close the Breach. End this before it gets worse.

The Breach is still up in the sky, still a swirling bright green iridescent blight on the skyline. There weren't any demons dropping from the sky anymore, though, and the ones still lingering in the small tears up in the mountainside were being contained. I couldn't say that we were in the clear though. There were reports of tears all throughout Thedas, demons staying localized to the tears, but still a menace that needed dealt with. And that means… I have to be ready to deal with this threat sooner than we had hoped. So far, I've been left alone to do my training, but I'm sure that any moment…

 _HEY, KNIFE EAR! WAKE UP!_

The entire world around us shook with each word as it rang in the open air.

Everyone in the training session glanced up at the sky. Reinan only shielded her ears and shrunk to her little corner of the riverbed, muttering about how she wasn't a knife ear at all. Solas' eyes narrowed. He shook his head, his disgust showing in his facial features as he glared up at the sky. Merrill just looked oddly… at peace with the phrase.

"The savior of the world… and they still call her a knife ear." Solas muttered. The ground around us rocked suddenly, throwing everyone but Solas off their feet.

"What's going on?" I screamed as I crashed into the ankle-deep water.

Solas closed his eyes. "You're being woken up. Physically, I might add." He glanced at me. "It would seem you must now attend to your duties as the Herald of Andraste. When you have finished, come and find me, and we'll resume your training. If we're needed elsewhere, your studies will have to wait."

The world around me started to fade away, and I slowly started finding myself surrounded by thin sheets, and a blocky pillow stuffed with tiny rounded pebbles. Standing over top of me was an ex-Templar, one of the newest additions to the growing army living outside the town of Haven. He was a burly human male, shoulder-length blond hair, and had deep blue eyes. He was the very model of what fairy tales told us of human knights. He even had a chiseled chin. If I was into humans, I'd even wager he was attractive.

"Seeker Casandra needs you in the chantry." The ex-Templar turned on his heel, walking over to the doorway.

Reinan slowly groaned as she sat up, rubbing her eyes as she did so. "Morning." She mumbled as she opened her eyes, yawning.

The ex-Templar stopped his advance to the door, giving a sharp glare to Reinan. He stood like that for a full second before clearing his throat and pushed his way through the door, slamming it behind him.

What was that about? I'm still not too aware of how this world was to catch the little things like was going on in the knight's head. Was it a hatred of elves, of mages? A little of both? I know the Templars and Mages hated each other, and humans hated Dalish elves, and treated city elves as impoverished second-hand slaves. I wish I knew exactly what he issue was with him. He seems to come here by our house often enough that he displays some desire to be near us. I don't know his name; he won't give it to me. And he doesn't fawn over me like the other citizens do.

I didn't have time to think about it though. I had to get myself dressed and ready to go.

I rushed as I gathered some pants and a shirt. Reinan was busy still waking up and stretching herself out to be bothered to put any day clothes on. I really had to thank her for letting me loot her dresser for clothes to wear every day. Eventually, I'll get myself down to the marketplace and get myself some new clothes. First and foremost, I need money to do that. I currently have none. I refuse to use my Herald status to get free things, but that had its drawbacks. Reinan makes close to nothing, and only has lodging because they're in the Inquisition, and this house was pretty much given to me, and Reinan was pretty much my nurse. I thought this house was hers the whole time, but it turned out that she was shoved in here with me. Solas didn't want to share a room with me, so he shoved his apprentice into this house with me. And he's sharing a small hut with Merrill.

I threw some basic clothes on and rushed out the door, screaming goodbye to Reinan as I exited. The cold air hit me immediately, and I felt a small longing to be home with my family… even if I hated them as much as I did. I wonder what mom and dad were doing right now. Or my younger brother. I wonder if I'll get to see them before all this is over. I wonder if I'll even be alive when all of this is over. My mark so far hasn't done anything to actually close the Breach, only just stop it from growing any larger. That's… good, I guess. I mean, I can still see the massive fuck storm brewing over the mountain, the lightning flashing every few minutes. We had some forces stationed near the mountain keeping whatever demons remained from advancing down into the valley. Of course, like I said earlier, there were reports of more rifts opening up around the area so… this containment of ours won't last for much longer.

I trekked for a few more minutes, breathing the cold air as I walked up to the chantry. People stopped their daily tasks just to bow to me, offering me blessings and whatnots. Some people still avoided my eyes, looking away or even ducking behind their doors as soon as I approached their houses. It was an odd feeling, because I'm only ever used to the ducking behind doors, or just being spat on. I'm not used to people glancing at me with wonder and excitement. At least, not from humans or city elves anyway.

The Inquisition forces have grown in the week I've been training. I don't leave the hut very often, and if I do it's to go do some training drills with Merrill or Varric, or to go hunting for my next meal. I haven't set foot in the chantry since I joined the Inquisition. I hate that place, it just screams of elven persecution.

And yet, here I am again, standing at the massive doors leading to what was supposed to be my death bed not even two weeks ago. I didn't want to open the doors, but I guess I had no choice.

I don't know why I was still just standing there, looking at the lion-faced door handle. It was a nicely polished handle, craftily molded into what I assumed was…

"Just go in already!" The guard standing by the chantry door screamed at me. It was the same guard as the last time I hesitated in going inside the chantry. He did not look amused by my staring at him, but he did pound a fist on his metallic chest plate, bowing his head to me. "Herald." He said to me.

"Ellana." I replied back. "I'm not a _boy_." I mused with a smile as I pushed the chantry door open. "Or… were you saying _your_ name is Harold? Or that it's a good day to be a herald? Or that I'm a herald even if I don't wish to be one?"

The guard just stood there, looking away. He resumed his stoic stance as the chantry guard. I almost wanted to make him blink or something, but I didn't have time. Cassandra was waiting for me, and if I knew what that meant, for each passing second I was late, someone was losing their head.

I smirked to the guard, walking inside. "Oh… and morning." I whispered to him as I walked past him.

He grunted as I entered the chantry, closing the door behind me. He almost slammed it at the last second, but all I wanted to do was roll my eyes. I'll make him warm up to me eventually.

The chantry was pretty empty today, but I'm guessing it's going to be like that every day I enter here. Cassandra was waiting for me in the middle of the chantry. When she heard the door shut, she turned to look back at me, nodding a welcome. "Come, we have much to discuss."

I only shrugged as I jogged up to her. "Ok, so… where do we begin?"

She started heading towards the council room, beckoning me to follow her. "I've been talking to Solas. He says your training is going well, extremely well. He thinks you're finally where we need you to be if we're to close the Breach."

"Close the Breach? How?" I certainly have mad skills with rift fisting, but… even I don't have a fist big enough to make _that_ thing implode. "I don't know what the other girls are saying about me… but even my fists can't satisfy a hole that large."

Cassandra choked on air for a second, turning to look at me with wide eyes. "What? I didn't mean… I… I should explain." She closed her eyes, rubbing them. "You're going to be the end of me."

"Sorry, you're not my type." I replied back.

That only made her even more agitated. "No, I didn't mean…" She groaned, returning to her walk to the council room. "Let's start over. I've been talking to Solas. He has a solid thesis on how he can close the Breach."

Oh… this should be good. Can I make a joke out of this? "Let me guess… we're going to get a bunch of people together, put our fists together… and tag team the Breach, all of us fisting it as much as possible until it implodes."

Cassandra's eyes were glazing over, just thinking of the visual. "Something like that." She said with a bit of hesitation. "Solas seems to believe that a second attempt might work… if your mark was stronger. It would have to be as strong as the magick used to create the Breach in the first place. And to do that… we need to figure out _how_ to make your mark that strong. Leliana has a pretty good idea. So does Cullen."

Cassandra pushed the door open for me, ushering me inside. I walked into the council room, nodding to the familiar face of Leliana. A tall muscular man with short blond hair stood near the corner of the room, resting his hands on the pummel of his longsword. I remembered Cassandra calling him Cullen, but I haven't really spoken to him yet. He was like the leader of the ex-Templars or something like that. He was always outside the town, running training drills with the soldiers. He was the leader of the Inquisition soldiers right now, and Merrill and Solas were helping the apostate mages in the Inquisition with their training too. Most of my training takes place during the nighttime when I'm sleeping.

On the other side of the room was that richly dressed woman from a week ago. The one that blathered on and on while staring at her clipboard. She nodded deeply at me as I glanced at her.

"Ellana, I believe you know Commander Cullen. He is the leader of the Inquisition forces. He handles all our troop deployments, training, and is our lead strategist."

Cullen nodded to me. "Nice to finally speak to you, Miss Lavellan. I was hoping to convey my gratitude on your decision to work with the Inquisition in closing the Breach."

Cassandra directed my gaze to the richly dressed woman holding the clipboard. "This is Lady Josephine Montilyet, our ambassador and chief diplomat."

Josephine bowed deeply to me in the same way a child would bow to a parent when it was about to be punished for doing something stupid. It was odd to see her do such a weird display of welcome. " _Andaran atish'an_." She said with a heavy southern Dalish accent.

I almost giggled at her bow, but I managed to hold a straight face as I said, "Oh… you speak elvhen?"

Her face blushed over and she straightened her pose. "That was the entirety of it, I'm afraid."

Cassandra directed me over to Leliana. "And this is of course Sister Leliana." And right as Leliana was about to speak, Cassandra glanced at me. "She is our spy master."

Leliana only sighed. "I operate a network of agents throughout Thedas. They conduct stealth operations in enemy fortifications, local taverns, and in the most noblest of houses, all in the hopes of giving us detailed reports and intelligence on anything we need to know. My people will be out in the field, making themselves servants and bar maids to pirate lords, nobles we're at war with, even the duchess of…"

Cassandra nodded. "Exactly what I said. A spy master." Leliana sighed.

"Tactfully put, Cassandra." Leliana said, holding her rage inwardly.

Cassandra ignored Leliana as she looked back to me. "I told everyone here that we needed to make your mark strong enough to close the Breach. Leliana and Cullen both have their opinions on how to handle this."

Leliana went first. "We need to contact the rebel mages for support. They can add to your magickal power, adding their own power to yours. This should be able to help you do your thing and close the Breach."

Cullen scoffed at the thought. "Contacting the mages… that's a poor decision. No, a better solution would be to seek out the Templars, recruit them to our cause. They have the ability to weaken the Breach, make it weak enough for you to close it with your mark."

"There's no proof to that!" Leliana protested.

Cullen only rolled his eyes, barring his fangs back at her. "I _was_ a Templar. I know what they are capable of."

"We all know what the Templars are capable of." Leliana replied back, crossing her arms. "We've seen firsthand what your Templars are capable of. Kirkwall."

Cullen glanced down, leaning back. "That was a mistake."

"As would be recruiting the Templars."

"If I remember correctly, the mages weren't so innocent either." Cullen returned. "You weren't there, Leliana. You didn't see the piles of bodies, the demons overrunning the town. I _was_ there. I saw the blood mages, the dark ambitions of those who resort to the foulest of magick. I…"

"Put them in a position where they had no other choice." Leliana said quietly. "I read the report Cassandra gave me. Varric retold the whole tale to me. I know what happened in Kirkwall. If you believe that the mages were seeking some blind ambition of growing stronger, you are sorely mistaken. They sought some amount of freedom. Some amount of humanity, but Kirkwall had none to give. And so… they did what anyone would do, they fought for it."

Cullen finally glanced away, still seething. "And in doing so… killed everyone else in Kirkwall with their dark and tainted magick."

I started heading for the door. I had no reason to stand here and listen to the two of them bicker. It was Josephine that got the two to shut up. "Unfortunately, neither the rebel mages or the Templars will even speak to us yet. The Chantry has denounced our Inquisition, Ellana specifically." Well, fuck them then. "And because of this, the rebel mages will not deal with us."

"Why not?" I asked, which drew everyone to me. "Ok, I understand enough about the Templars… they served the Chantry or something like that. So… it makes sense that they wouldn't listen to us if the Chantry said we're… denounced or whatever. But the rebel mages… they're not exactly on speaking terms with the Chantry, right?"

Josephine shook her head. "Technically, you are correct, but the Chantry is the power behind Thedas. If the rebel mages wish to be viewed by the masses as a peaceful movement bent on obtaining freedom from Templar control, they must not be seen dealing with enemies of the Chantry. To be thrown into our denounced movement will only further discredit what they hope to achieve in the future. If anything, it will be viewed as a provocation to war against Thedas."

Well, _fenedhis lasa_. "So, because the Chantry says we're evil… we're not getting support from anyone."

Josephine nodded. "Correct."

"Why are they saying we're evil anyway?"

She pointed to me. "Some have started calling you, a Dalish elf, the 'Herald of Andraste'. The Chantry sees you as a threat. The remaining clerics that hold power in the Chantry have declared that the thought of a Dalish elf being the herald to Andraste blasphemous. And the Inquisition is nothing more than a band of heretics for harboring you."

Ah… well, this has turned into a situation I wished to avoid a week ago. "So, if I were to go home and pretend this never happened, the Inquisition-"

Cullen cut in. "Would still be censured for something, we're sure."

"And you have to be here." Cassandra reminded me. "No one else can do what you do."

I took the chance to make her feel awkward. "Ah yes, my legendary fisting skills."

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Everyone stared wide-eyed at Cassandra and me for a few seconds. Cullen seemed to be the only one that didn't get the joke. "Wait… what?" Cullen suddenly blurted out.

Cassandra's face was full red now, her right eyebrow twitching as she tried to keep her voice level. "Not how I would have phrased that."

Leliana arched an eyebrow, clearly amused by this turn of events. "Well, do tell, Cassandra. How would you have phrased it? Lifting the curtain?"

There was a second silence falling over the room. Cassandra turned on her heel, marching for the door. "I will be out training the troops then."

Cullen cleared his throat, yelling, "Don't kill anyone, Seeker. Try to leave the recruits in one piece."

"No promises." Cassandra yelled back, slamming the council door behind her shut.

I'm having a lot of fun today. And it's only fun because Cassandra was likely going to kill me when all this was over anyway. If I can get her to leave before that moment ever comes… great for me. And if I piss her off enough, when it comes time for her to do her _shem_ duty, I will die with a smile on my face knowing that I punished her thoroughly for it. Or, and this is a slim chance, I might be able to use it against her, put her in a blind rage, and use that to my advantage to use my rogue skills to kill her first.

We stood there in silence for a few more seconds before Leliana snickered a bit, covering her mouth to hide the growing smile. She quickly cleared her throat, saying, "You know, there is something you could do."

Oh gods, if this was a setup to another fisting joke, I was going to march out of here next. "And what would that be?"

"I have a contact by the name of Mother Giselle. She is a Chantry cleric and she has asked to speak with you. She's not far away, and she knows the chantry sisters that still hold power in the chantry. If we could get her assistance, she might end up helping us convince the Chantry that we're not the enemy."

Well, that's good. Something to start with, surely. "Well, that sounds… convenient. Could it be a trap?"

Leliana only shrugged. "I highly doubt it. She's in the Hinterlands near Redcliffe, tending to the wounded refugees."

"Wounded refugees?" What was going on down there?

Cullen nodded. "I would assume it would be from the war between the mages and Templars. The civilians have been caught in the middle of this god's forsaken war, as always."

"And that's why there is a very slight chance of this being a trap. No Chantry would stage a trap like this in a war-torn combat zone. I believe that Mother Giselle is just looking for a way to help the Inquisition. You should head to the Hinterlands and speak to her."

Cullen nodded. "And while you're there, see about doing whatever you can to aid the Inquisition as well. Give us a good name, recruit scouts, help the settlers."

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. "Ok, but… you do remember that there are more people than just me. Right?"

Cullen nodded. "Of course. It's not like we're asking you to do everything. We have plenty of soldiers."

"And agents too." Leliana chimed in. "You'll probably run across them from time to time, but… the world believes you are the Herald of Andraste. You are the voice of the Inquisition, remember that. What you say, do, even care about, will reflect on the Inquisition."

Dammit.

"So, it stands to reason that you will probably end up leading up most of the investigations and random quests people need done. And you'll be the one to do it because you'll be representing the thought that an elf like you is blessed by Andraste herself." That sounds contrived.

Josephine seemed to see the distressed look on my face. "While you are out in the Hinterlands, please take the time to find us more agents and recruit them to our cause. The more agents we have, the less work you will have to do, and the more resources we can provide. Having more agents means more material for armor, weapons, clothes, food, and clear water. If we're to thrive in Haven, we will need a vast network of agents and spies. Leliana is good with handling both of those things, and I will handle the resources. You just need to find us more recruits."

So… I find more recruits, and that will mean I will get to do less work. I like that idea. It can't be too hard to find recruits… right?

Cullen motioned me to the map sitting on the table. "And without further ado, I must introduce the war table. It is the single most important thing in the Inquisition. Here, on this holographic tablet fueled with magicks I don't fully understand, we are able to upload the information gathered by our network of agents. We're able to gather information about incoming quests, organize troop movements, and most importantly, fast-travel you to new areas."

There were so many words in that sentence I was unfamiliar with. "What?"

"What Cullen is saying…" Leliana said while glaring at Cullen. "Is that this map is magic. And it can do things that are beyond our explanation."

"Really?" I said, looking down at the flat piece of paper. It didn't look all that special.

Cullen nodded. "Yes. See that tiny statuette of the Hinterlands?"

I could in fact see the tiny toy piece. "Yes."

"Just… push on the tiny statuette. It will teleport you to the Hinterlands in a matter of seconds. Before you know it, you'll be on site, meeting with Mother Giselle."

Wow… I've been learning a lot about magick the past week, but teleportation magick? That's just… amazing.

I placed my finger on the tiny statuette. "Ok… my finger's on the statue. Now what?"

"Close your eyes and say, 'I wish I was in the Hinterlands'."

"Ok…" I closed my eyes. "I wish I was in the Hinterlands!" I waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened.

When I opened my eyes, I could see Cullen and Leliana both trying to hide their snickers. "Oh… oh, this was a joke."

"Of course, it was." Josephine rolled her eyes. "It's just a map. With a toy on it."

"There is no such thing as fast-traveling." Cullen stated. "Well, not true, I guess. There are pillars that you can create small portals with, travel from site to site that way. But you need to touch a pillar to gain that magick ability."

"So… in order for this fast travel thingy to work…"

"You must first be there and touch the pillar." Leliana finished my thought.

"Good. That will come in handy."

I looked at the two of them, hoping to see some kind of growing smile, any kind of way that could have told me that they were just lying to me again. I didn't see any sign of it though. Maybe they were telling the truth this time. I've never seen these 'pillars' before so I couldn't say for certain that they were real or not. If they were real, my clan never used them.

"So… are we all done here?" I asked around the room.

Leliana nodded. "Yes. Gather up your team, head down to the Hinterlands, meet up with our scouts in the area, and then meet with Mother Giselle. Also, see what you can do to help the Inquisition forces down there. And see about recruiting more agents so that you don't have to do as much. That's pretty much it."

Pretty much it, huh? That's a long list of 'pretty much it's.

I nodded, turning on my heel. "Ok then. I'll just go and gather my team." My team? Who the hell was my team? I glanced back at Leliana. "So… who is my team again?"

"Seeker Cassandra, Varric, and Solas. Merrill and Reinan if they wish to join you as well."

"And Templar Sam." Cullen said. "He's the strong-chinned fellow I have assigned to watching your quarters." Oh… that's his name. Sam. Not a bad name, to be sure.

"That's…" I started counting on my fingers. "Seven of us." Just two more of us and we'll have a proper fellowship. I'm not looking forward to going to the Hinterlands, but then again, I'm not looking forward to having the world being swallowed by a massive green hole in the sky either. And if I need some mages and Templars to help me close this thing… then that means I need to get the Chantry on my side (I guess). Well, time to make some new friends.

* * *

 **Cearbhail:**

 _So, even though Ellana is training as a mage, she will primarily be used as a rogue character, mostly assassin type. With lightning and fire and stuff too. And Jedi references too. You can guess the class I'm talking about.  
_


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